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FEMINOLOGY 

A Guide for Womankind, Giving 
in Detail Instructions as to : : 
Motherhood, Maidenhood, and the 

Nursery : : 



FLORENCE DRESSLER, M. E., M. D. 

Professor of Gynecology in the College of Medicine and Surgery, 

Chicago; Lecturer on Diseases of Women and Children 

in the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital and 

College for Nurses, Chicago 



illustrate! 



When parents realize that children are as pre- 
natal influences make them, then only may we 
look for Perfect Manhood and Womanhood 



CHICAGO 

L. DRESSLER 6- CO. 

1902 



Publishers 



TttE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Corif^s Received 

DEC. 10 1901 

Copyright entry 
CLASS tf^XXc. NO. 

GO*y a. 



Copyright, 1901, by 
FLORENCE DRESSLER, M. D. 



... . • • . . c 

c •••••••••• •«• • « 



TO 

fffiaes anil Husbands 

Those Who Hold It in Their Power to 
Mold the Lives of Future Gen- 
erations, Is This Book 
Dedicated 



i 



PREFACE. 

In the State of Colorado, a photographer of some note 
secured some fine views of certain beautiful spots of nature. 
The views were copyrighted. Some time later he had 
occasion to enter suit for an infringement upon his copy- 
right. After having heard the case, the judge decided that 
nature could not be copyrighted; that she belonged as 
much to one as to another; that any person who chose 
had the right to secure views from any point desirable. 

It is not presumed in treating the subject-matter of 
this volume that we have presented views of that marvelous 
work of nature, the human body, not obtainable by others ; 
or that in gathering material we may not have trespassed 
upon the point of view taken by some other writer. The 
chief object has been to embody such ideas as in our judg- 
ment will aid womankind in the attainment and preserva- 
tion of good health. 

All authorities are agreed that it is easier to prevent 
disease than to rid the system of morbific matter after 
some lesion has occurred. Nature effects cures herself. All 
the healing art can do is to discover what she is trying 
to accomplish, and assist to that end. 

The one use of all medicinal agents is to cleanse the 
body from the effete matter which obstructs and irritates. 
These are aided by other means, such as the bath, flushing 

5 



6 PREFACE. 

the colon, emetics, inhalations, etc., which assist in the 
elimination of the cause of the disease; to which aids this 
volume frequently directs attention. 

As accessories to the preservation of health, we have 
embodied some of the rudiments of sanitary science: such 
as the ventilation of the home, the need of hygienic dress, 
the necessity for external and internal cleanliness of the 
person and surroundings, the best modes of exercise, etc. 

The human needs the agencies of pure air, pure water, 
pure food, and sunshine in abundance. He needs to learn 
the law of moderation in all that he does, to preserve an 
unimpaired body, and to know that he can never disobey 
any of nature's laws without suffering the inevitable con- 
sequence. 

When the practice of the laws of health and the car- 
dinal virtues becomes established, happiness will increase 
with the years of life and the knowledge they bring. The 
mere animal happiness of childhood can not be regretted 
nor compared to what is enjoyed by matured life, when 
health, " the vital principle of bliss," is possessed. 

We wish to urge the careful perusal of the following 
pages in the sincere belief that many of the pains formerly 
belonging to the " lot of woman " may be avoided, and 
many of the trials of her estate alleviated. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Marriage . . . . . . . .21 

Objects in Marrying — What constitutes a perfect mar- 
riage — Marrying a home — Marrying a housekeeper — 
To please relatives — To rejuvenate — The law of selec- 
tion — Similar tastes, habits, etc. vs. contrast — Not a 
counterpart, but a complement — Phrenology a guide to 
character — Temperaments — How to marry — Age at 
which to marry — Consanguinity — Proper time to marry 

— The marriage chamber. 

CHAPTER II. 

Home-building . . . . . . -37 

The Commonplaces — Duties and responsibilities — The 
need of patience — Some knowledge of all the arts and sci- 
ences a necessity — Drudgery — The real self exhibited — 
Temper of family regulated by food eaten — Sleeping 
rooms — Separate bed — Ventilation — Drainpipes — Dis- 
position of garbage — Quarreling in jest to be condemned 

— Pleasure a necessity to the health of a young wife — 
Grandmother's example not always salutary. 

CHAPTER III. 

Amative Desires . . . . . .56 

Quotation from Henry Ward Beecher — To all who culti- 
vate the idea that sex love is degrading, it becomes such 

— Normal sex love not antagonistic to spiritual growth — 
Appropriation of sex power aside from propagation of 
the species — Disease never the result of intelligent sexual 
relation — Frequency of the relation — Loving courtesies 
prophesy loving intercourse — Prostitution, Supporters of 
the institution — Yielding an unwilling body — Wife 
should control the maternal function — Quotation from 
Dumas — The risk in gratifying unholy passion — " Sins 
of the fathers." 



I 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Limitation of Offspring . . . . 7 2 

Law of population — Nature's checks — Birth restriction 
preferable to overcrowding — Moral restraint superseding 
misery and vice — The higher law — Scientific checks — 
Over-indulgence responsible for more than half the uterine 
ailments — Undesired children are weeds whose seed is 
not the best for making the earth fruitful — " Women have 
rights, as well as men " — Individuals who should be re- 
strained from reproduction — The effect of attempted 
abortion on offspring. 

CHAPTER V. 

Prenatal Inheritance . . . . .87 
Parents responsible for the kind of children they have — 
Education that does not include the knowledge of how to 
have good children, or none, not comprehensive enough — 
The intimacy of the relation of mother and unborn babe, 
organ for organ, part for part — Heredity, the law that 
like begets like, may be modified by pre-natal influence — 
Qualification for parentage — Greater care exercised in 
mating lower animals than daughters — Considerations 
necessary for best pre-natal inheritance — Character mold- 
ing — Sexual intercourse during pregnancy — Parents as 
artists in the noblest of all arts. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Reproductive Physiology . . . .105 

Some knowledge of Physiology essential — The pelvis — 
Female organs of generation — The uterus — How sup- 
ported — The Fallopian tubes — The ovaries — The ovum 

— The mammae — Male organs of generation — Testes — 
Scrotum — Vasa recta — Vasa efferentia — Vasa deferens 

— Spermatic cord — Ejaculatory duct — Prostate gland — 
Cowper's gland — The penis — Semen — Spermatozoa. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Pregnancy 128 

Conception — Preparation for — To beget boys — Girls 
— What time is best — Action of the spermatozoa — Signs 
of pregnancy — Stopping of the menses — Morning sick- 



CONTENTS. 9 

ness — Mammary changes — Rotundity of abdomen — 
Quickening — Doubtful pregnancy — Duration of Preg- 
nancy — Disorders of Pregnancy — Nausea — Hysteria — 
Salivation — Biliousness — Constipation — Diarrhea — 
Headache — Heartburn — Flatulence — Colic, causes of, 
and how corrected — Morbid craving — Hemorrhoids or 
piles — Neuralgia — Development from conception to 
birth — Changes that take place in the ovum — The pla- 
centa — Nourishment of the embryo — Its growth, from 
fourteenth day to nine months — Normal position of fetus 

— An eight-months' child. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Easy Labor . . . . . . . 1 57 

Parturition a natural process — How it may be made pain- 
less — Clothing to be worn by the pregnant woman — Ele- 
vated influence to be gained from mingling with others — 
The value of deep breathing — Number of air cells in the 
lungs; how to open them — Dead air — Waist breathing 

— Bathing — Structure of the skin — Perspiratory glands 

— Sebaceous glands — The sitz bath — The vapor bath — 
The hot-air bath — Baths a great help to easy childbirth 

— Exercise, a necessity — Overwork to be avoided — 
Fowler's appeal to fathers — Diet to be observed — Not 
necessary to eat for two — Sleep. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Confinement . . . . . . . 183 

Choice of bedrooms — Protection for the bed — General 
preparations — Many attendants undesirable — The first 
symptom of labor — Commencement of labor — Progress 
of — True labor pains — False pains — Special observa- 
tions for mother and attendant — Delivery — Cord should 
not be severed until pulsation has ceased — Care of child 

— Expulsion of placenta — Fetal circulation — No ab- 
dominal bandage for the mother — After pains — Dress 
for the child — Nursing — Diet of a lying-in patient — 
Baby's bath — Care of the navel — Soothing syrups de- 
structive to infant vitality — " Mother and child." 

CHAPTER X. 
Convalescence and Its Drawbacks . . . 208 

Some rules to be observed for a perfect and rapid conva- 
lescence, after a natural labor — Subinvolution — Hemor- 
rhage — Laceration of the cervix — Laceration of the 



io CONTENTS. 



perineum — Falling of the womb — Constipation — Pro- 
trusion of the bowel — Milk fever — Sore nipples — De- 
pressed nipples — Excessive flow of milk — Insufficiency 
of milk — Inflammation of the breast — Childbed fever. 



CHAPTER XL 

Abortion ; Feticide . . . . . .221 

Abortion, expulsion of the contents of a pregnant uterus 
before the third month; miscarriage, from the third to the 
sixth month ; premature labor, between the sixth and ninth 
month — The most common period — Causes that induce 

— Symptoms of miscarriage — How to prevent — Feti- 
cide — A twofold crime — A nation of murderers — Use- 
lessness of preaching against feticide to woman, while 
encouraging men in the belief that sexual gratification is 
necessary, at whatever cost to wife and offspring — Re- 
move the cause. 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Mother in Relation to the Child . .235 

Nursing — Influence of diet, drink, medicines, etc., on milk 

— Influence of mental states — Artificial feeding — Wean- 
ing — Diet after weaning — Crying — The language of 
babyhood — Care of the breasts. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Hygiene of Early Life . . . . .256 

Advantages of the "Gertrude baby suit" — Taught to 
observe calls of nature — Period of shortening baby's 
skirts — Foods — The best drink — Object of cookery — 
Feeding potatoes — The bath — Care of the teeth — Exer- 
cise — Sleep — The face a barometer of the state of health 

— Bed-wetting — Mouth breathing. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Normal Development from Birth to Puberty . 280 
Average development in height and weight, from one 
month to fourteen years — The first indications of unfold- 
ing intelligence — Teething — Delayed dentition — Value 
of pure air during this period — The second summer — 
Age at which speech is acquired — Second dentition — A 
common cause of ill health in late childhood. 



CONTENTS. 1 1 



CHAPTER XV. 
Parenthood and Education .... 297 

Growth of the normal child — Mother-love the safeguard 
of childhood — Froebel, the "discoverer of childhood" — 
The kindergarten — " Gifts " — Sloyd work — Ignorance 
not innocence — There is no darkness but ignorance — 
" Where does baby come from ? " — Education on this 
point should begin with the first question — Striking the 
child — Many lives colored by what has been read — How 
Jeannette Gilder's life was shaped — " Do right, without 
regard to what people say or think." 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Diseases of Children . . . . 319 

Disorders of early infancy — Disorders during dentition 

— Disorders from imperfect digestion — Disorders arising 
from colds — Affections of the throat — Affections of the 
Skin — Contagious diseases — Constitutional diseases — 
Parasitic diseases — Urinary diseases. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Son ........ 374 

Sex is of the soul, and the physical form but the outward 
expression — When home instruction should begin — The 
attitude of two mothers in contrast — The unfolding pow- 
ers of sex — Evil effects of self-abuse — Aids to continence 

— Marriage a legal way of gratifying sensuality — " If the 
prostitute is just as necessary to the welfare of society as 
the wife, then her calling is just as honorable" — What 
will assist to a strong, pure manhood. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Daughter . . . . . . . 39 8 

The education of girls — No more to be trained for wife- 
hood and motherhood, than boys for the corresponding 
estate of fatherhood and husbandry — Once thought to 
be unfortunate when a daughter was born — The virtues 
out of proportion — The formative period of life — Mis- 
chief only misdirected activity — Preparation of the child's 
mind for the period of puberty — Understanding and con- 
trolling the powers of sex — Stimulation of the awakened 
appetite — Unhappiness caused by powers misused — Up- 
hold a clean ideal of manhood — Dependence weakening to 



12 CONTENTS. 

the moral fiber — Cultivated deformities — Special de- 
rangements — A perfect figure. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Menstruation and Its Disorders . " . . 420 
Premonitory signs — Cause of menstruation — Diseases 
that sometimes develop when the menses are being estab- 
lished — Chlorosis, hysteria, St. Vitus' dance — Menstrual 
derangements — Dysmenorrhea — Amenorrhea — Menor- 
rhagia — Vicarious menstruation — And how to overcome. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Diseases Peculiar to Women . . . .38 
Causes of — The marriage relation too often the source of 
wrong — The finding slow, because of the pride of woman- 
kind — Inflammation of the vagina — Cause, symptoms, 
treatment — Inflammation of the uterus or metritis — 
cause, symptoms, treatment — Inflammation of the Fal- 
lopian tubes, or salpingitis — cause, symptoms, treatment 

— Inflammation of the ovaries, cause, symptoms, treatment 

— Ovarian dropsy — Dropsy of the womb — Neuralgia of 
the ovaries, or uterus — Displacements of the organs of 
generation a very frequent form of suffering — Prolapsus 
the most common form — Retroversion — Anteversion — 
Flexures — Displacements of the ovaries — Ulcerations — 
Leucorrhea — Tumors — Polypus — Cancer — Moles, or 
false conceptions — Hydatids — Inflammation of the ex- 
ternal genitals — Pruritis — Nymphomania — Dropsy of 
the vulva — Hysteria — Causes, symptoms, treatment of 
each. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Menopause . . . . . .475 

As natural for the menstrual flow to cease as to begin — 
Much suffering at this period — Dr. Fowler's views — 
Premature cessation of the flow — Nature's four ways for 
removing obstructions from the body — Value of the syr- 
inge — Early indications of the change: Irregularity in 
the menstrual flow, a fitful, capricious appetite, hot flashes, 
profuse perspiration, neuralgia, eruptions, bleeding piles, 
uterine hemorrhage, tumors or cancers, excessive deposits 
of fat, palpitation of the heart, flatulence, hysteria — 
Strong fathers needed, as well as strong mothers — With- 
out hygienic precautions, men may suffer as seriously as 
women — Care of the temple of the soul. 



CONTENTS. 13 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Diet in Health and Disease . . . .491 

' " The character of a man's food largely determines his 
character " — The food principles which enter the system 
through the mouth — Water a prime necessity — Chief 
characteristics of good water — Where best water is ob- 
tained — Foods — The proteids — Fats — Carbohydrates 

— Salts — Table of Nutritive values of different articles 
of food — Best methods of cooking meats — How to pre- 
pare vegetables — Mrs. Rorer's recommendation — Fruits 

— Flavorings — Foods suitable between the ages of three 
and ten years — Diet in youth — Sweets for children — 
Diet in bodily labor — In mental labor — Diet in old age 

— Sudden emotions arrest the processes of digestion, — 
Deficiency of one or more food principles — Excess of food 

— Mastication of food — Table of time required for the 
digestion of ordinary articles of food — Diet in disease. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Hints on Nursing the Sick . . . . 517 

Light in the sick-room — Care of room, bed-linen, and wear- 
ing apparel — Heat and ventilation — Quiet an essential — 
Observance of changes wrought by disease — Hot and cold 
compresses — Poultices : mustard, turpentine stoup, stimu- 
lating liniment, medical applications — Disinfectants — 
Directions in contagious diseases — Table of contagious 
diseases, time of incubation, duration of disease, and infec- 
tion — What the pulse indicates — What the breathing 
indicates — Ratio of pulse, breathing, and temperature of 
the adult — What the tongue indicates — What the surface 
indicates — What the countenance indicates — The nerves 

— Pain — Restlessness — Sleep. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Some Emergencies and Accidents . . • 54 1 

How to meet them — Fire : to escape from a burning build- 
ing — Clothing on Fire — To dress burns or scalds — To 
resuscitate one apparently drowned — Suspended anima- 
tion from intense cold — From an atmosphere of escaping 
fuel or illuminating gas — Apparent death from drunken- 
ness — Sunstroke — To prevent sunstroke — Fainting — 
Cramp — Stings from insects — Mad dog bites — Bites 
of poisonous serpents — Bruises — Cuts or lacerations 



14 CONTENTS. 

Nosebleed — Sprains — Broken bones or fractures — Poi- 
soning — Foreign bodies in the throat — In the ear — In 
the nose — In the eye — Household medicine chest. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Care of the Person ..... 3^4 5^ 

Care of the skin — Baths for two purposes — Keeping the 
skin clean — The internal bath — The stomach bath — The 
complexion — Pimples — Blackheads — How corrected — 
Freckles and Tan — To remove and prevent wrinkles or 
age lines — The hands — How protected — Care of the 
nails — The hair — Number of washings required — Dan- 
druff — The shampoo — Brushing — Baldness — Super- 
fluous hair — To promote growth of the eyebrows — The 
eyes — Should never be overtaxed — Near-sight and far- 
sight — To cure inflammation — When the eyes need 
spectacles — The teeth — Care of the teeth — The ears — 
Striking children on the ears a dangerous practice — Out- 
standing ears can be corrected — The feet — Cleanliness 

— Corns — Foul breath — Causes — Temporary relief — 
How cured. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Physical Culture . . . . . . 59 2 

The first great step — Physical culture and mental culture 
related — Deep breathing — The head the seat of intelli- 
gent direction ; the trunk the seat of life — How to take a 
deep inspiration — To overcome flat chests, weak lungs, 
bronchial or throat affections — To develop bodily vigor 

— Quotation from Dr. J. H. Kellogg — The chest the foun- 
dation principle of a graceful carriage — The art of sitting 

" — Etiquette in bowing — Shaftesbury's laws of grace — 
Eternal vigilance the price of health, grace, and general 
well-being. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Rest 620 

The great need of the American people — Law of action 
and reaction — Sleep the "chief nourisher in life's feast" 

— Insomnia — How to overcome — The chief enemy of 
repose — Interesting article on the subject of worrying — 
Rest is God's medicine. 



CONTENTS. 1 5 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Beauty . ...... 640 

Beauty that appeals to the moral sense — The mind's 
health destroyed by dark moods — Laws on which are 
founded a cheerful disposition — The mental graces pleas- 
ing to the moral sense — Beauty that is pleasing to the 
esthetic faculty — Beauty that appeals to the intellect — 
Personal beauty. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Social Life ....... 656 

Ease of manner among our fellows — Conventionalities 
acquired through observations — Table etiquette — Parlor 
etiquette — Street etiquette — Rules of salutation — Art of 
conversation — Miscellaneous etiquette — The keynote of 
an ideal society. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Longevity . . . . . . .672 

Ills of body and ills of soul — All good thought is of the 
constructive order, all wrong thought is of the destructive 
order — The art of forgetting the unfavorable ingredients 
of everyday life — The phases of good that are of specific 
benefit against advancing years — " Mark Tapley " — The 
crime of cynicism — The " saving grace of mirth " — Pet 
griefs — " There's many a trouble would burst like a bub- 
ble " — Average life in prosperity and poverty — The pre- 
server against becoming a " back number " — The young 
old person — Recorded cases of longevity — Quotation 
from Ingersoll — Nature's preparation for unearthing a 
soul — " There is no death " — The here and now is the 
only place and opportunity to do what we have to do. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 

. Frontispiece 
30 



Author's Portrait (half-tone) 

Woodland Vows (half-tone) 

The Home Nest (half-tone) 

The Pelvis .... 

The False Pelvis 

The True Pelvis 

The Flattened or Deformed Pelvis . 

Section of Female Pelvis, Showing Viscera 

The Uterus 

Ovary and Fallopian Tube 

Enlarged Ovary . 

Mammary Gland 

Inner Structure of Testicle 

Spermatozoa 

Front View of Unimpregnated Uterus 

Normal Position of Unimpregnated Uterus 

Impregnated Uterus at Three Months 

Impregnated Uterus at Six Months . 

Natural Position of the Child at Nine Months 

Graafian Follicle 

Ovum and Embryo 

Embryo of Twelve Days Laid Open . 
Human Embryo at the Third Week . 

2 17 



42 

105 

106 
107 
108 
no 
112 

115 
117 
119 
121 
130 

131 
132 

133 

135 
136 

147 
147 
147 
148 



i8 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Embryo of Thirty Days 

Embryo of Seventh Week . 

Embryo at Two Months 

Embryo at Three Months . 

Auvart/s Couveuse (Incubator) 

Fetus and Membranes at Fifth Month 

Fetus and Surroundings at Seventh Month 

Fetus at Nine Months (half-tone) 

Uterine and Fetal Surfaces of the Placenta 

Improved Breast Support .... 

Fetus Inclosed in Its Membranes in First Stage 

of Labor 

Normal Presentation (full-page colored plate) 
Position of Patient in Hemorrhage after 

Labor 
Face Presentation 
Placenta Presenting . 
Twins in Utero . 

Head Engaged in Birth Canal (half-tone) 
Posterior Arm Presenting (half-tone) 
Removal of Placenta (full-page colored plate) 
Plan of the Fetal Circulation 
Schultze's Method of Resuscitation (First 

Movement) 
Schultze's Method of Resuscitation (Second 

Movement) 
Mother and Child (half-tone) 
Arterial Vessels in a Uterus Ten Days after 

Delivery 



149 
149 
150 
150 
151 
152 
153 
154 
156 
163 

187 
188 

190 
191 

193 
194 
194 
196 
197 
199 

200 

200 
206 

210 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 19 

Showing Manner in Which Head Rotates 

with Chin Extended 211 

Fetal Circulation 227 

A Spoiled Pet (half-tone) 257 

Spreading the News (half-tone) . . . 284 

Diseases of the Skin (colored lithographs) . . 348 
Crusted or Honeycomb Ringworm, Favus — Bald 
Spots, Tinea decalvans, Alopecia — Ringworm of 
Scalp, Tinea tonsurans — Spotted Rose Rash, Ery- 
thema nodosum — Running Scab or Moist Tetter, 
Eczema — Nettle Rash, Urticaria. 

Diseases of the Skin (colored lithographs) . . 356 
Scabies, or Itch — Red Gum Rash (Simple Lichen or 
Spotted Heat) — Honey Sickness, Honey Scab or 
Pustular Tetter, Impetigo — Shingles, Herpes Zoster 

— Diffuse Dry Tetter (Psoriasis Vulgaris) — An- 
other form of Psoriasis, Circular Dry Tetter. 

Eruptive Fevers (colored lithographs) . . . 370 
Measles — Scarlatina or Scarlet Fever — Vesicle of 
Vaccination (with slight Rose Rash around it) — 
Typhus in early stage (7th day ordinary case) — 
Typhus in advanced stage (13th day Spotted Typhus) 

— Typhoid Enteric or Gastric Fever (about 16th day 
Rose Rash of Typhoid). 

Eruptive Fevers (colored lithographs) . . . 380 
Confluent Smallpox in unvaccinated person (early 
stage) — Ear in Confluent Smallpox (mature stage) 

— Chickenpox (1st and 26. day) — Smallpox, after 
vaccination (3d day) — Smallpox, after vaccination 
(5th day) — Smallpox, after vaccination (7th day). 

Romeo and Juliet (half-tone) .... 390 



20 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



" May Glides Onward into June " — Long 

fellow (half-tone) 

Cultivated Deformities .... 
A Well-Proportioned Female Figure 
Section of Female Pelvis and Its Contained 
Viscera . . . . . 

Nerves of the Uterus 

Natural Body Brace 

Falling of the Womb ..... 
Knee Chest Position (to Correct Displacement) 
Retroversion of the Womb 
Anteversion of the Womb 
Retroflection of the Womb 
Uterine and Utero-Ovarian Veins 
Physical Culture Movements (Figs. 1-6) 
Physical Culture Movements (Figs. 7-12) 
Physical Culture Movements (Figs. 13-18) 
Physical Culture Movements (Figs. 19-24) 
Physical Culture Movements (Figs. 25-30) 
Physical Culture Movements (Figs. 31-36) 
Recreation (half-tone) .... 

Music in the Pine Wood (half-tone) . 
Grandma's Helper (half-tone) 



404 
414 

415 

439 
441 

447 
450 
45 2 
453 
455 
457 
481 

597 
599 
601 
603 
605 
607 
620 
642 
684 



CHAPTER I. 

MARRIAGE. 

Objects in Marrying. — "The true object of marriage, 
and the only one that should be entertained, is the perfection 
of existence that comes of a physiological union ; the propa- 
gation of offspring that go to make such a union complete ; 
and it is the combining of all which perfects love, intensifies 
happiness, and makes life worth living." So says one wise 
in the study of what constitutes true mating. 

Men and women are placed in pairs that they might 
complete each other, each giving all that is requisite to round 
out the character and disposition of the other. It is irre- 
sistible desire for companionship that prompts marriage in 
the normal human being. A perfect marriage means per- 
fect companionship; a blending of two distinct individu- 
alities into a harmonious pair; a forgetfulness of self in 
one another. It means that perfect love which casteth out 
all fear ; which " doth not behave itself unseemly ; seeketh 
not her own ; is not easily provoked ; thinketh no evil/' 

But men and women are too frequently influenced by 
selfish motives. Women often marry homes; men often 
marry wealth. Women marry some one to take care of 
them; men marry a housekeeper. By a happy chance the 
union may be harmonious, but that is not apt to be the case. 
A luxuriously furnished house and a fat purse can hardly 

21 



22 FEMINOLOGY. 

weigh against the misery and disgust produced by intimate 
relations with a husband odious and disagreeable; nor can 
it make up for the neglect and indifference of one absorbed 
in the chase of the fickle goddess of fortune. Again, the 
trade of acquiring wealth makes many men stingy. It must 
be particularly galling, when a woman has been lured by the 
attraction of riches, to find her husband parsimonious to a 
small degree. 

Sometime or other it will come to the man who has 
married a housekeeper or cook that a home is not possible 
without the love of a woman. A house with people living 
in it is not home, however splendid it may be, unless graced 
and beautified by the power of love. 

Marrying to please relatives rarely secures happiness. 
Parents do wrong to urge marriage at all. It is a step that 
should be taken without constraint, without haste, and with 
entire spontaneity. The province of relatives is to counsel 
or direct, pointing out mistakes often made, or showing 
benefits to be derived. But persuading children to marry 
against their own inclinations has caused much unhappiness 
to all concerned in such matches. 

Old men sometimes think to rejuvenate themselves by 
marriage with a woman strong in vitality and buoyant with 
youthfulness. Where a girl becomes " flesh of the flesh " 
of a man used up from age or excesses, it is not hard to 
foresee what a few years would bring her to. In point of 
health he has nothing to give, and she has all to lose. The 
tastes of youth and of old age are seldom similar, so that 
one or the other must suffer; she by giving up what are 



MARRIAGE. 23 

pleasures to her ; or the old husband by giving up much of 
wifely care and companionship. 

An object in marriage is often recommended by phy- 
sicians whose consciences have reached the vanishing point 
— the cure of nervous debility in men. No more per- 
nicious idea was ever set forth. The joining of a man, 
weak through sin, to a healthy woman is barbarous, to 
say nothing of entailing disease on offspring. The phy- 
sician's advice would better be, " Bear the whole burden 
on your own shoulders. If you are not otherwise curable, 
do not insinuate yourself into the affection of any young 
woman, and saddle posterity with disease and suffering." 

The Lazv of Selection. — The choice of a companion has 
more to do with happiness and success than is usually con- 
sidered. Before the choice is made, ordinarily there is an 
unsettled, all-at-sea feeling in the matured man and woman ; 
as though some essential of life were yet lacking. While 
afterward, if the choosing has been done wisely and well, 
there comes tranquility, happiness, completeness. And 
strength and purpose to pursue a given vocation is realized, 
not at all possible before. 

Touching upon the point as to who should marry, Dr 
Jacques says, " Some physiologists have taught that the 
constitution of the parties in marriage should be similar, 
so as to insure similar tastes, habits, and modes of thought ; 
while others have contended that contrasts should be sought, 
to give room for variety, and prevent the stagnation of 
a level sameness. Neither of the statements expresses fully 



24 FEMINOLOGY. 

the true law of selection. There can be no harmony with- 
out a difference, but there may be a difference without 
harmony. It is not that she is like him that man loves a 
woman, but because she is unlike. For the same reason 
she loves him. The qualities which the one lacks are those 
which, in the other, attract and hold the fancy and the 
heart. The more womanly the woman the greater her 
power over men; and in proportion as she approaches the 
masculine in person, or in character, will she repel the 
other sex ; while woman admires no less in man true man- 
liness, and feels for effeminacy and weakness in him either 
pity or contempt. What should be sought, and what is 
sought, as a rule, in a husband or wife, where arbitrary 
conventional customs, and considerations of rank, wealth, 
and position are not allowed to interfere, is not a counter- 
part, but a complement — something to supply a lack — 
the other self which shall round out one's being, and form 
a perfect symmetrical whole. As in music, it is not con- 
tiguous notes which combine to form chords, but those 
separated from each other; as a first, and a third, and a 
fifth. So we produce social and domestic harmony by asso- 
ciating graduated differences." 

The study of Phrenology and Physiognomy has been 
reduced to a science, and everybody would be more or less 
benefited by an acquaintance with some of the principles 
contained in them. Marriage is considered a lottery, a 
step taken blindfolded, or a leap in the dark. But it need 
not wholly be, if these sciences which reveal character by 



MARRIAGE. 25 

the form of the body and features of the face, be under- 
stood. Both men and women often assume to be what 
they are not, during courtship, in order to " make a catch." 
Roues are veriest sticklers for propriety in women they 
would choose for wives, and take upon themselves a veneer 
of polish and refinement which so sadly deludes those who 
accept them as husbands; while women pad and paint and 
powder, and make use of artificial manners to produce a 
temporary lovely effect during the hours when her lover 
shall call. 

Dr. Cowan calls phrenology the lens through which 
unity of mind, which lies at the base of perfect marriage, 
is approximated. 

Dr. Wm. Byrd Powell became so proficient in this sci- 
ence, as to tell by the shape of a human skull the complexion 
of hair, eyes, and skin of the subject when living. Pro- 
fessor Buchanan would describe a character by the appear- 
ance of the eyes, form of the nose, shape of the chin, 
conformation of the lips, and the prominences and depres- 
sions of the whole face. There is no necromancy in it, 
though to the uninitiated there seems to be. All observing 
people are more or less readers of character. One person 
meeting another forms some kind of estimate of character 
by the face, manner, and dress. Study of the science is 
necessary to make one exact in reading what people truly 
are, by their features and facial muscles. In the choice 
of a life companion, it is an invaluable guide. 

The adaptability of candidates for the marriage rela- 



26 FEMINOLOGY. 

tion is twofold — mental and physical; of the mind and 
of the temperament. Neither will effect complete happi- 
ness alone, but should be evenly balanced by the other. 

Dr. Cowan says, " It is necessary to a perfect union, 
a requisite to happiness, and a higher and more esthetic 
culture, that the man and woman to be married have no 
positive traits of character that differ in the least from 
one another. If the man have social faculties fully devel- 
oped, so should the wife. If the man have a large moral 
and religious nature, so should the wife. If the man pos- 
sess well-developed perceptive, reasoning, and reflective 
powers, so should the- wife. And so in the selfish propen- 
sities and sentiments, it is necessary to a perfect union that 
the man and woman be equally developed, or as nearly so 
as possible." 

If the victims of uncongenial, marriages were alone in 
the suffering caused thereby, the harm done would not be 
so great. But the sin, even though it be of ignorance, is 
visited on the children which are born of such alliances. 
When married people find they have been mistaken, it is 
criminally sinful to have children; and the sooner a mis- 
mated couple cease their relations, the better for the society 
of the future. There is hardly an imperfection of the mind 
or body that is not, in a great measure, traceable to this 
defect in the social system. The trained eye of the physi- 
cian can tell at a glance toward children, whether the 
parents are mated or not, so marked are the physical influ- 
ences of unhappy marriage. 

As to temperament, following is the classification given 



MARRIAGE. 27 

by Dr. Powell : The sanguine, the bilious, the encephalic, 
and the lymphatic. These temperaments rarely occur in 
the simple state; two, three, or all of them may be united 
in one individual. 

The sanguine temperament is distinguished by light 
hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. 

The bilious, by a harshly defined outline of the person 
and features. The bony system is largely developed; the 
muscular system is capable of highly active movements. 
The hair is black and coarse, and often curly; the eyes are 
dark; and complexion dark and sallow. 

The encephalic is distinguished by a large, massive fore- 
head, much expanded above the temples; small nose; thin 
lips, the lower being more prominent; chin small and 
pointed. The complexion may be either dark or fair. In 
combination with other temperaments this contributes to 
the production of the most gifted and distinguished char- 
acters; while alone it excites pity for the feebleness of all 
the functions of life. 

The distinguishing features of the lymphatic tempera- 
ment are large, round head, thick lips, heavy cheeks, pug 
nose, and sleepy-looking eyes. This condition, when highly 
developed, is greatly disgusting, yet as an element of hu- 
manity, is indispensable to civilization. The most perfect 
representatives of this constitution obtain in China and Hol- 
land, and explains the patient industry of these people. 

The sanguine and bilious temperaments are called the 
vital; and the encephalic and lymphatic, the non-vital tem- 
peraments. 



28 FEMINOLOGY. 

Marriage should occur between those in whom the 
opposing temperaments are developed. The sanguine and 
bilious should not marry; nor should two mate when there 
is a predisposition to the encephalic or lymphatic in both. 

Napoleon is cited as an illustration of the four tempera- 
ments combined. Josephine was of the bilious and enceph- 
alic compound. Both being half vital and half non-vital, 
their union was childless ; hence the divorce " for the good 
of the state " resulted. 

George and Martha Washington were another pair 
where similarity of temperament caused the union to be 
sterile. 

There is a liability of married people outgrowing a com- 
patibility that was complete at the time of marriage. There 
are constitutional changes to be guarded against, caused 
by modes of living. If too much lymph is being developed, 
a turn to active business or physical exercise will keep it 
down. If too much of the encephalic is developing, to pre- 
serve harmony, turn to outdoor physical exercise and the 
mode of life that will build up the vital elements of the 
constitution. 

In a little work entitled, " How to Marry," the follow- 
ing rules are given : " Marry your approximate equal in 
development, and your like — 

"(i) In age. The old and young are non-inter mar- 
riageable as black and white. 

"(2) In temper. They who love spiritually should not 
marry such as love carnally. 



MARRIAGE. 29 

"(3) I n intelligence. A simpleton is a poor associate 
for a sage. 

"(4) In sentiment. Let not progressives consort with 
conservatives. 

"(5) ^ n devotion. The husband and wife should have 
but one sanctuary, whether it be under a steeple, or roofed 
only by the broad canopy of heaven. 

"(6) In taste. A tidy woman abhors a sloven, and 
every man with an eye to parts abhors a slattern. 

"(7) In habitudes. A vegetarian at the table of a 
pork-eater remembers the fox that dined with the stork. 

"(8) As to the goal in life. They who are always 
aiming at what is in a name, should not be sought in mar- 
riage by such as care only for what is in nature." 

The above summarizes what might be said in greater 
space, as to mental adaptation in marriage. 

The intangible, irresistible power which draws the sexes 
toward each other exists throughout the domain of nature; 
its primary purpose being the perpetuity of the different 
kinds of species. Naturally everything tends toward it, and 
tries to reproduce to the fullest capacity. Nature gives 
little in a perfect state ; and if no means are used to develop 
what is placed within reach, humanity remains low in the 
scale of civilization. So in the relation of the sexes. God 
made the law ; and then gave to man understanding to bring 
out of it all that is conducive to good, physically and spiritu- 
ally. And in proportion as love and wisdom go hand in 
hand as guides, is marriage made to serve its highest pur- 
poses. 



3 o FEMINOLOGY. 

Age at Which to Marry. — The relative ages of husband 
and wife are most suitable, if from two to ten years in favor 
of the husband, although there are instances peculiarly- 
happy, where the wife has been the older. The presumption 
is that the wife ages sooner than the husband, and the years 
in his favor preserve a final balance. 

Dr. Allison (London) is authority for the following 
assertion : " If young folks want to marry, and will use 
measures to prevent conception until they arrive at a proper 
age to become parents, I see no objection. In fact, my 
experience as a doctor points to early marriage and limi- 
tation of offspring as the best course for humanity." 

The chief objection to such recommendation is that 
young people are apt to overlook every other consideration 
but the attraction of sex. The subtle, exquisite pleasure 
derived from each other's presence convinces a pair of young 
lovers that marriage must ensue. 

If the laws regarding adaptation have been consulted, 
and there is support for two, it is highly probable that early 
marriages would prove a blessing. In most cases, the desire 
for children would not be intense in the beginning of mar- 
ried life. Young people do not wish to forego the pleas- 
ures of youth which are not compatible with parenthood. 
Nor should they. There should be time for them to know 
each other thoroughly, that all inharmonious differences 
may be eradicated. During that time they develop to the 
full stature of manhood and womanhood. If the marriage 
has made them better, wiser, and more loving, then is time 




WOODLAND VOWS. 



MARRIAGE. 31 

to call into existence the children who shall be golden links 
to bind more closely wedded hearts. 

Ordinarily, early marriages are disastrous, owing to 
excesses in which youth is apt to indulge. Finding delight 
in the marriage relation, they repeatedly indulge in sexual 
union until nature rebels, and they become obnoxious to 
each other. Continuing in ignorant excesses, the moral, 
intellectual, and physical powers become impaired. Puny, 
sickly children are born to be a care to every one and them- 
selves, while life shall last. After the first fires of youthful 
love have been extinguished, ambition to be or do anything 
out of the commonplace will have died out, leaving a stolid 
vegetation instead of the ripe, rich fruitage afforded by 
marriage on the basis of love and knowledge. 

Cases are not rare where heads of families need dis- 
cretion to direct themselves; and they are absolutely inca- 
pable of governing a family. 

It is better that marriage be deferred till a girl has 
reached an age between twenty-two and twenty-five. Be- 
fore that time the mind has seldom unfolded to the extent 
of making deliberate plans for future generations. It would 
be well for every girl to have a clear perception of him she 
will not wed, although she does not romantically establish 
an ideal. Low habits naturally cause a man to have coarse 
manners and modes of speech; but before a young woman 
he is anxious to impress favorably, these are repressed. 

If a man's habits when away from woman's society can 
not be learned, marriage should be delayed or put off alto- 



32 FEMINOLOGY. 

gether. Future happiness is placed in jeopardy too great, 
not to use the best of care in selecting one who should be 
the closest companion and friend. 

Every consideration of prudence and wisdom urges that 
there be no alliance with a drinking, tobacco-using man. 
The tobacco habit, in itself, is far-reaching in evil effects. 
It takes away the mastery of self, which is one of the chief 
requisites to marital happiness; it opens the gateway to 
licentiousness and alcoholism; it blurs the finer senses, and 
paralyzes the inner consciousness. A clean, high-souled 
companionship could never be realized with one whose being 
is saturated with the poison of tobacco, alcohol, and licen- 
tiousness. These vices go hand in hand, each leading the 
Other farther into the depths of degradation. When a 
young woman marries a dissipated man to reform him, she 
tries a very hazardous experiment, one not successful once 
in a thousand times. He may tell her she is all that will 
save him, and she, poor soul, thinks it a pity that he should 
be lost. Once a slave to his passions and appetites, he 
becomes too vapid and spiritually weak to know what can 
be done for his salvation. 

Best never to marry than unite with one whose course 
is downward. Respect cannot be maintained when gross, 
offensive habits are brought to light. Loss of affection, 
alienation, and repugnance are easy stages thereafter. Or, 
if there be a tenacious affection for a depraved husband, 
it is not difficult to see how a wife will suffer degradation 
by going down the scale to his level. It is a law of physics, 
in the material world, that the unsound and decaying will 



MARRIAGE. 33 

contaminate the good and perfect, while the healthy and 
sound has no power to arrest the destruction of the other. 
A woman strong and pure might be able to infuse good- 
ness into a weak and sinning husband, but it is highly 
improbable that that kind of a woman would make such a 
choice of a husband in the first place. 

Consanguinity. — The question being asked continually 
is, How nearly related may people be to enter the state of 
matrimony? This deserves careful inquiry. If judged by 
statistics, whose figures are supposed to be incapable of 
lying, marriages of cousins should not occur. A certain 
large per cent of the deaf, dumb, and blind, of the feeble- 
minded or idiotic, are offspring of the marriage of cousins. 
Inherited predisposition to disease is generally similar in 
members of the same family, and in consequence, the pre- 
disposed infirmity would almost assuredly be developed in 
the offspring. 

The superior enterprise of the people of the United 
States, as a whole, has been attributed to mixture of differ- 
ent races. These constantly amalgamating have produced 
a powerful and progressive nation. Intermarriage of rela- 
tives is never to be advised. 

Proper Time to Marry. — Real enjoyment of the honey- 
moon depends on freedom from business cares. So that the 
vacation time of year is usually chosen for a wedding. As 
much as possible, it is well to avoid extremes of either heat 
or cold. The new relationship will be delicately trying, 
3 



34 FEMINOLOGY. 

with all other conditions adjusted to the very best. Accus- 
tomed to seeing each other well-dressed, the neglige becomes 
an eye-opener. As with David Copperfield, it will be such 
a stupendous thing to know for certain that Dora put her 
hair in curl-papers. It takes time for the intimacies to 
become a matter of course; but with love as the foundation 
stone, they become more dear with the months and years. 

Regarding the time in the month, both prudence and 
nature suggest delay till after the woman's menses are over. 
The wedding should occur about twelve days after recov- 
ery from her periods, which is said to be nature's time of 
sterility in woman. 

The Marriage Chamber. — It is a time-honored custom 
which extends the privilege to the newly made husband and 
wife of occupying the same room and the same bed. The 
room should be one that commands the greatest privacy. 
Of all experiences that belong exclusively to wedded lovers, 
those of the intimacy of marriage are theirs the most. In 
entering into, and establishing this relation, the maiden 
becomes the wife. The language used by Dr. J. G. Holland 
in " Kathrina," beautifully and delicately expresses what 
can never be better said : — 

" God forbid that I, 
With weak and sacrilegious lips, betray 
The confidence of love; or tear aside 
The secrecy behind whose snowy folds 
Honor and virgin modesty retire 
For holiest communion. For the fire 



MARRIAGE. 35 

Which burns upon that altar is of God. 

Its tongues of flame throughout all time and space 

Speak but one language, understood by all, 

But sacred ever to the wedded hearts 

That listen to their breathings." 

The maiden-wife comes to the arms of her husband 

weighed down with embarrassment, which only time can 

dispel. If love and kindness do not govern his heart at 

this time, the husband's chances for future happiness are 

slender. Passion, in young women, is rarely developed 

until after marriage. If its unfolding does not come by 

degrees in the wooing winds of love, the deepest joys and 

benefits of marriage can never be realized. The memory 

of rudeness and lustful violence on the wedding night has 

made many a husband an object of repulsion thereafter. 

Disappointment too deep to be expressed comes to the bride 

who has found herself in the embrace of a human gorilla, 

when she had expected to find a man whose fine nature 

would recognize her rights and desires, and whose tender 

thoughtfulness would speak more eloquently than words, 

of the love in his heart. 

1 
In the union of one man and one woman on the basis 

of mutual love rests the salvation of the race. The rela- 
tion of husband and wife, in the true marriage, is the 
strongest, the most intimate, the most enduring in all the 
world ; it is the source of all other relations. Before parent 
and child come husband and wife; before brother and sister 
and all the varied degrees of consanguinity stand husband 
and wife, to whom all must look for their origin. Conjugal 



36 FEMINOLOGY. 

love is all-absorbing. It broadens the outlook upon life, 
it incites to greater moral development. Imperfect in sepa- 
ration, in union all that is manly and womanly blends in a 
perfect whole. So, — 

" Marriage, rightly understood, 

Gives to the tender and the good 

A paradise below." 



CHAPTER II. 

HOME-BUILDING. 

The creation of a new home which shall be the abiding 
place of a pair of lovers, depends on the co-operation of 
the two for its success. It should be the centering place 
for the first and best thoughts of both. From the begin- 
ning of marriage, responsibility never ends. The duties 
and obligations assumed on entering the bonds of matri- 
mony are not only important in themselves, but their neg- 
lect or repudiation is followed by evil consequences. Fam- 
ily life is the foundation stone on which society rests; and 
in proportion as it is cemented by love, loyalty, and devo- 
tion, will the state of society be pure. Life is made up of 
the spiritual and physical, each depending on the other. 
The spiritual glorifies and makes beautiful the sustaining 
power of the physical. The marriage of lovers being real- 
ized, the commonplaces march in singly and in battalions, 
to assist in building a home. During courtship, the ques- 
tion of food, shelter, and clothing has a far-away, unreal 
sound. But after marriage, its consideration comes very 
near being of first importance. So much so, there is dan- 
ger of husbands and wives forgetting to keep up the small 
courtesies and sweetly expressed feelings of love toward 
each other. When that occurs, marriage descends to the 
material plane, and no longer yields the delight anticipated 
during the wooing period. Love-making should become 

37 



38 FEMINOLOGY. 

an everyday part of home-making. Its expression is as 
fuel to the fire. Indifference causes alienations and infi- 
delities; it being perfectly natural when one support is 
taken away, for the delicate tendrils of love to seek another. 
Every woman whose husband is indifferent, is practically 
divorced; while a wife's indifference is virtual abandon- 
ment. The one first brought to a realizing sense of 
such condition should make it a point to call the other's 
attention to it. It may be a selfish oversight, which friendly 
counsel, without reproach or anger, can remedy. But if 
the hand of union is to endure, it must be continually 
strengthened. The sun of love should shine so brightly 
that the bats and owls of discontent and inharmony can- 
not cross the pathway. 

To the young woman looking upon ease and personal 
enjoyment as the supremely desirable, the work of home- 
building will seem particularly irksome. Therein is no 
ease and personal enjoyment, save that which comes from 
well-applied mental and physical exercise. There can be 
no drawing back, for the homely everyday duties are whips 
and spurs to goad her on. Patience is needed to meet the 
cares that come with every sun. 

" More than martyr's aureole, 
We need the humble strength of soul 
Which daily toils and ills require. 
The stoutest spirits they dismay — 
The tiny things of every day." 

In the maintenance of home, the branch of business 
and the branch of housewifery stand as equals; neither 



HOME-BUILDING. 39 

should be kept distinct from the other. The wife should 
know of the business enough to advise on delicate points, 
and feel interested in its success. A woman's sense of 
financial honor is of a finer order than man's, and she 
will go hungry rather than defraud the butcher or baker; 
while to her, debt is disgrace. With a little insight into 
business, a wife may become a safe, clear-sighted partner 
and adviser, whose interests are identical and inseparable 
from those of the original head. It is a mistaken kindness 
to try to shut her out " to save her annoyances.'' She 
must suffer humiliation in her own eyes by feeling she is 
regarded as incapable of understanding business, which, 
unless initiated some time, she will be. Occasionally there 
is a childish Dora Copperfield wife, who does not wish to 
be troubled; but for men to consider all wives as Dora 
Copperfield is the thing to be most roundly resented. 

In the simple state, business is pursued that a home, 
with its necessities, comforts, and luxuries, may be kept 
up, and the intellectual and physical development of the 
family provided for. In the perverted state, home becomes 
a place to eat and sleep, to recuperate the physical powers, 
that business may go on. In the immediate precincts of 
home, affairs are just as important as in the arena of busi- 
ness. The material essentials for home-building are pro- 
vided by the business, while their care, arrangement, and 
preparation for use, depend on the skillful management of 
the housewife. 

The occupation of housewifery is no sinecure. The 
necessary knowledge must include something of all the arts 



4 o FEMINOLOGY. 

and sciences. The details to be worked out involve a tre- 
mendous amount of patience and perseverance, when under- 
taken single-handed. But for a woman to be well-versed 
in housewifery does not necessarily mean she must assume 
all the work, including drudgery. Many have the execu- 
tive ability to preside over a large concern, who have not 
the physical strength to go into all the minutia. Thought- 
less men have shut the sunlight and happiness out of other- 
wise pleasant homes, by exacting the performance of all 
labor of the household from their wives. The suitor whose 
joy and pride was to please and serve his sweetheart, 
becomes transformed into an exacting master and holder 
of the family purse strings, on that old and wicked theory 
that man is the ruler of the household. If, in doing his 
high and mighty will, the health of the wife breaks down, 
a physician is called to restore it, for fear folks would 
otherwise " say something." The physician's bill, more 
than likely, would overshadow the expense of a domestic 
assistant for years. This same class of husbands would 
not think of carrying on their own work unassisted, and 
see no inconsistency in their position. 

This is a fruitful cause of many households being far 
from a realization of the ideal. The whole time being 
taken up in the monotonous round of domestic labors, the 
housewife is left without recreation and amusement; and 
she becomes jaded, weary, and constitutionally discouraged. 

To hear the household celebrated as the one place where 
women are continually in a state of blissful serenity, is irri- 
tating ; when one has but to look around to see where domes- 



HOME-BUILDING. 41 

tic unhappiness spreads like a deadly mildew, and women 
slave like men in the trenches. Let no one say housewives 
are necessarily happy; for there are more drudges, more 
broken-hearted women, more mere human vegetables in 
so-called homes than anywhere else. The restless sense of 
power wasted, and strength spent in preparation for eating 
and sleeping, and other processes by which life is main- 
tained, becomes unutterably galling, when there is no res- 
pite. Such life is hardly a degree better than that of a 
cow or a cabbage. 

It is quite true that it is best for the race, best for the 
state, that home should be woman's distinctive sphere. The 
home-making spirit is inherent in every natural, well-sexed 
woman. But unless her husband becomes her inspirer and 
helper, the interest and enthusiasm instinctively hers in this 
line, will gradually wane, and at last die out. 

Margaret Fuller said, " If men will look strictly to it, 
they will find that unless their lives are domestic, those 
of the women will not be. A house is no home unless 
it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body." 
A wife's mission may be to minister to the comfort and 
health of the household — to use the necessary drop of 
oil to make domestic machinery run without friction. But 
to be her best and to do her best, she must feel there is 
appreciation and a just estimate of the value of her labors. 
It requires courage to meet the many small demands of 
the household — courage all women do not naturally pos- 
sess. And there is no stimulant more powerful than 
husbandly appreciation. 



42 FEMINOLOGY. 

It is not enough that a family be provided with the 
necessities and comforts of life, unless the finer essentials 
of tenderness and consideration are included. They are 
indispensable adjuncts to complete happiness, as are the 
hands of a clock to each other in reckoning the time. 

The hope and strength of too many wives and mothers 
are allowed to fail, where attentions and courtesies on the 
part of the family might revive and renew them. 

The seclusion of home gives a certain freedom and 
attendant privileges which no other place in the world 
affords. It is there the real self is exhibited, and, hence, 
is considered the best place in which to judge character. 
It cannot be right, however, to allow the weeds of selfish- 
ness, ill-nature, and fault-finding to grow up therein. It 
cannot be right to fall into manners that would not be 
tolerated in the homes of friends. It is surely wrong not 
to be as kind and courteous to those who are best beloved 
as to strangers. Home is the garden of the soul, in which 
people are fitted for the places in life here and hereafter. 
When men and women decide to give the best that is within 
them to those who are nearest, home will be the ideal place 
it should be. 

The supervision of the home in all its details usually 
devolves upon the wife. By so doing, her equality with 
the husband is preserved in home-building. If in business 
it is necessary for a man to be able to direct his employees, 
in the household it is just as essential that a woman should 
be capable of directing her assistants. 

If a young wife does not understand housekeeping at 




THE HOME NEST. 



HOME-BUILDING. 43 

first, she can learn by experience, as a little child learns 
to walk by walking. The figurative bumps and bruises 
encountered should not discourage her, but, rather, help 
her to avoid future mistakes. 

Assuming the care of a household, the young wife must 
be constantly on the alert to promptly combat dirt and 
disorder, which are demoralizing in the family. She should 
acquaint herself with some of the leading principles of 
household hygiene to preclude the likelihood of her family 
becoming poisoned by bad sanitary conditions. Offensive 
sights should be promptly removed, and offensive odors 
investigated. It may safely be said that where evil smells 
exist, there can be no real healthiness. 

To understand the values of food and the preparation 
thereof, the care of beds and bedding, to know how to ven- 
tilate her house throughout, to look after the drain pipes 
and the disposal of garbage are a few of the requirements 
of housewifery. As to food, the rapidity with which the 
nourishment of to-day is changed into the body of to-mor- 
row should make the domestic superintendent careful as 
to what is served. The disposition or temper of the fam- 
ily may be regulated to a great extent at the table. Un- 
wholesome or badly cooked food will cause indigestion, 
which, in turn, causes irritability. In this, the temperate 
climate, but little meat should be served in the summer, as 
it is heating to the blood. In winter, beef, veal, mutton, 
lamb, and poultry, eaten in moderation, are wholesome. 
Pork is not to be recommended. The swine has always 
been a scavenger, and his flesh is hard to digest. Horse 



44 



FEMINOLOGY. 



meat is preferable to pork, when the difference of the 
treatment of the two animals is considered. The horse is 
kept in a nice, clean stall, and fed with hay and grain; 
while the hog seems to prefer filth in every way. Meat- 
eating should never be indulged in to excess. It is called 
by some a cannibalistic tendency which will be outgrown 
as the race advances. It is true the same properties con- 
tained in meat exist in nuts, vegetables, and cereals; that 
beans, peas, oatmeal, rice, barley, sago, potatoes, and corn 
yield double and treble more nourishment to the pound 
than meat. But the meat habit is so firmly established — 
many crave it to such an extent — it will hardly be dis- 
pensed with. The house-mother will do well to make fruit 
and vegetable dishes so attractive, her family will come 
to care less and less about flesh. A certain amount of fat 
is necessary to nourish the brain, and save the wear and 
tear of the nervous system. Eggs, milk, butter, and the 
vegetables yielding oil will furnish all the oleaginous mate- 
rial necessary to carry on the processes of nature. Fish is 
always acceptable by way of variety, as it contains phos- 
phorus, which is strengthening to brain and nerve. 

Water that is to be taken into the system should be 
known to be pure. If any doubt exists, the water should 
be boiled, which process eliminates all impurities. That 
which has remained in the pipes all night should be drawn 
off before any is used. Water that has been long standing 
is unfit to drink, as the impurities of the surrounding 
atmosphere are absorbed by it. Ice water should only be 
taken in moderation — never at all, is better yet. It is 



HOME-BUILDING. 45 

apt to cause irritation of the bowels; and, sometimes, a 
fatal inflammation. 

The new home-maker will use the most careful consider- 
ation in the furnishing and arrangement of her sleeping- 
rooms. Fully one third of the lifetime is spent in bed in the 
recuperation of exhausted vitality and strength. So it is 
necessary that all appurtenances be the most wholesome 
to be found, if the preservation of health is the aim. Un- 
carpeted floors are preferable for bedrooms. Where hard- 
wood floors are not to be had, the soft wood may be stained 
and treated with oil. Wall paper and rugs can be pur- 
chased, to harmonize; while shades and draperies for the 
windows furnish the proper softening effect. And then 
the beds. The family sleeping-rooms should have a bed 
for each member. If desirable, the guest chamber may 
be furnished with a double bed, because one's guests may 
not all have grown away from the old-time fetich. But 
for the young housewife and her husband, what can be 
more comfortably cozy than two single bedsteads of brass 
and iron, with their separate mattresses and coverings? 
Sleeping alone is the only healthy mode of resting, and 
there will be invalids as long as it is not the rule. 

The bedsprings should be covered with stout ticking 
fastened at each end, to preserve the mattress wearing in 
spots. The mattress may be of husks and cotton, hair and 
cotton, or hair and wool. The last is expensive, but dura- 
ble. It should be brushed regularly to remove dust, and 
frequently exposed to the sun and air. 

Bed coverings should be light, and easily laundered. 



46 FEMINOLOGY. 

Sheets, blankets, spreads, and the light-weight comfort- 
ables covered with cheese-cloth, are to be most highly rec- 
ommended. The quilts so popular a generation or more 
ago are very nice bed coverings; but few women have time 
or inclination for creating them in the present day. 

Beds should air at least an hour before being made up, 
daily, and as much longer as possible. A good plan is 
to have each occupant, before leaving the room, throw 
back the covers, open the windows, and draw the bed to a 
position where both the sun and air can reach it, stormy 
weather to be excepted. The window shades should be 
raised to the highest, that the rays of light and heat may 
reach all parts of the room, thus destroying all possible 
germs of disease that may otherwise abound. As to the 
use of single beds, the following quotations from good 
authorities are here given to emphasize the point : — 

Dr. Sydney Barrington Elliot says, " It is best for 
people not to sleep together, whether adults or children." 

Dr. John Cowan says, " Children should not be allowed 
to sleep together, nor with grown-up persons; men should 
not sleep with men, women with women; nor should hus- 
bands and wives who desire to lead a pure, true, and lov- 
able married life, habitually sleep together." 

Dr. T. R. Allison says, " From a health point of view, 
it is better to occupy separate beds. Women are affec- 
tionate; and when they nestle close to a man, they excite 
sexual desire on the part of the man. This often leads 
to too much sexual intercourse. Married couples will do 
well to sleep in separate beds. By this means, intercourse 



HOME-BUILDING. 47 

occurs less often, and health is preserved; for opportunity 
is the cause of much useless and injurious intercourse/ ' 

Dr. E. B. Foote, Sr., says, " Married people make a 
great mistake in allowing themselves to sleep together. 
This practice, in a measure, leads to uncongeniality. From 
five to eight hours' bodily contact in every twenty-four, 
with one person, not only causes an equalization of those 
magnetic elements which, when diverse in quantity and 
quality, produce physical attraction and passional love, but 
it promotes permanent uncongenialty by making the pair 
grow physically alike." 

In the " Laws of Life," a paragraph states : " There 
is nothing that will so derange the nervous system of a 
person who is eliminative in nervous force, as to lie all 
night in bed with another person who is absorbent in 
nervous force. The absorber will go to sleep and rest all 
night; while the eliminator will be tumbling and tossing, 
restless and nervous, and wake up in the morning fretful, 
peevish, fault-finding, and discouraged. No two persons, 
no matter who they are, should habitually sleep together. 
One will thrive, and the other will lose. This is the law; 
and in married life it is defied almost universally. 

Mrs. E. B. Duffy, in " The Relation of the Sexes," says : 
" I would especially recommend the use of separate beds 
by married people, on the score of morality and good health. 
Two people are seldom, if ever, both benefited by sleeping- 
together. Then the close bodily contact, under a common 
bed clothing, in the slight protection the night clothing 
affords, is a constant provocative of amorous ideas and 



48 FEMINOLOGY. 

sensations to the husband, if not to both. It is all wrong, 
and the sooner the custom is banished by either fashion 
or good sense, the sooner will the standard of morality 
and health be raised among the married. ,, 

" Talks on Nature " remarks : " This idea of separate 
beds cannot be combated on any other than the ground 
of the sensualist. Children will be less liable to come unless 
wished for by both parents. The mere gratification of 
sex desire is very poor excuse for calling a soul into being, 
and a very poor heritage to bestow upon lives that should 
be occasions for purest thought before, as well as after, 
they are called into life." 

A great deal has been said and written on this subject, 
but as yet not much impression has been made. But it 
stands to reason that emanations from the body are un- 
healthy, and when absorbed by another, the best physique 
is bound to suffer. 

In regard to ventilation: in one respect, pure air is 
more essential to the formation of good blood than pure 
food; that is, the influence of the air upon the blood is 
constant; it never ceases a single moment during life. By 
night and by day, sleeping or waking, respiration goes on, 
and every breath is fraught with benefit or injury, accord- 
ing as the air inhaled is pure or vitiated. The theory of 
ventilation is to make the internal air as pure as the exter- 
nal air. Nature has, as in all her works, admirably arranged 
the purification of outside air. The diffusive power of 
gases prevents the poisons, which are heaviest, from sinking 
and overwhelming mankind in a wave of death, by com- 



HOME-BUILDING. 49 

pelling them to intermingle till thoroughly diffused. Car- 
bonic acid is the food of plants, and oxygen the waste 
product. As the whole animal creation is constantly taking 
the oxygen, and adding carbonic acid, this provision is 
especially fitting, and, with the added influence of the winds, 
which insure rapid changes, the air is kept wholesome. 

It is a simple affair to ventilate in the summer. Com- 
fort demands that windows and doors be open. But in 
winter, the need of economizing heat and the fear of drafts 
cause many to breathe foul air over and over again. There 
should be two openings in a room, one as a vent for foul 
air, and the other as an inlet for the outside air. The 
introduction of stoves for heating purposes has been injuri- 
ous to health. A fire burning in a stove abstracts as much 
oxygen from the air as twelve men, besides emitting impure 
gases. The fireplace, or grate, with open chimney, is best 
for heating purposes combined with purification of the 
air. They do not make the houses so warm as stoves or 
furnaces; but the body should be more warmly clad, which 
is far healthier. The superheated house is an enemy to 
strength and hardiness. People of delicate constitution 
should have the air of their sleeping-room about the same 
temperature as the living-room. Those who are without 
the health-preserving fireplace in the sleeping-room, should 
open one or more windows at the top and bottom, as much 
as an inch for every occupant. 

To test the condition of any room it is only necessary 
to go out of doors for a short time, and inhale a few deep 
breaths of pure air. If, on returning to the room, there 
4 



50 FEMIN0L0GY. 

is an ill odor, the ventilation has been imperfect, and should 
be seen to. The sense of smell is. the guardian against 
danger to health. A box of charcoal or unslaked lime in 
the sleeping-room will assist in purifying the air by absorb- 
ing the gaseous poisons. This is especially valuable in 
sickness, and should then be renewed often. 

To offer the suggestion that the lady of the house should 
see about cleansing the drain pipes and the disposal of 
garbage seems a bit incongruous. Ordinarily the mind 
presents the lady in a beribboned house gown, with a book 
or embroidery in her white hands; or else her jeweled 
fingers are practicing the newest piece of music, as a morn- 
ing occupation. These things are right, to be sure. They 
are restful and refining as a means of recreation or mental 
improvement. But back of all stands the guardian of home 
and health. The beribboned house gown is proper and 
pretty to enhance natural charms for the benefit of husband 
and family at the breakfast table (although it is hardly 
suitable if there is not an assistant in the kitchen). After 
the family has dispersed for the morning, however, it is 
good to see the lady merged into the hardy, sensible woman 
looking well to the ways of her household. If a substan- 
tial laundered dress and apron is substituted for the dainty 
gown, she does not need to use that mincing carefulness 
that puts one so out of patience in dealing with physical 
affairs of the home. 

If there are any offensive smells coming from sinks, 
basins, or cellar, the house-mother may know something 
is wrong. The plumber should be sent for, if the pipes are 



HOME-BUILDING. 5 * 

not in perfect working order. His bills are less expensive 
than the doctor's; and the cares and heartaches incident 
to sickness are thus avoided. One of the best precautions 
is to flush the drains daily with hot water, to which has 
been added either washing soda, household ammonia, chlo- 
ride of lime, or potash. 

All the garbage that cannot be burned should be 
removed to a remote dumping ground. Best that all husks, 
parings, and tops be burned. Have a good bed of coals 
in the range, and with open drafts and closed lids the 
refuse can be changed into clean ashes. 

Stores of fruit and vegetables should be occasionally 
looked over, that the decaying may be removed. The 
health of the family is preserved by this course, as well 
as the saving of the stores that are not tainted. 

A wife's duties and responsibilities are many, aside and 
beyond the management of domestic concerns. There are 
often calls made upon her temper, forbearance, and cour- 
age, that can only be met by Avisdom and delicate finesse. 
There are times when the husband will not be angelic; 
and to meet them with the soft answer that " turneth away 
wrath " is in her province of duty. If he be a true man, 
in his saner moments he will see the disagreeable aspect of 
his former attitude, and appreciate the sweet, forbearing 
spirit of wifeliness. But if he should happen to be one of 
that class whose best qualities are hidden by a cloud of 
selfishness, he may continue to be cross-grained. A self- 
respecting woman will resent oft-repeated exhibitions of 
ill-nature. So that wifely tact, or outraged feeling, will 



52 FEMINOLOGY. 

likely suggest something more forceful than the good words 
or grass of the schoolbook story. True lovers do not 
always understand each other, and collisions are sometimes 
needed to clear up the domestic atmosphere, as electric 
storms purify the air. But they should not be allowed to 
occur often. " Mutual forbearance is the touchstone of 
domestic happiness." The daily growth of unity of thought, 
of purpose, and of mind is the great object to be striven 
for by those who are desirous of living a harmonious mar- 
ried life. Quarreling in jest is common among young peo- 
ple, and should be condemned entirely. It is a custom that 
is wholly wrong. It can never be elevating to imitate the 
bad; besides, quarreling in jest often becomes quarreling in 
earnest. If the association of marriage is to be a happy and 
prosperous one, if the joint life is to be fuller and richer, it is 
absolutely essential that each must contribute to the result, 
by careful consideration of the other's feelings and wishes, 
and by an occasional sacrifice of his or her own inclination 
and desires. As the months and years go by, the necessity 
for " clearing-up showers " will vanish, because of com- 
plete understanding that comes to exist between husband 
and wife. 

Marriage is followed by a very much greater change 
in the circumstances and habits of the wife than in those 
of the husband. He still pursues the occupation to which 
he has perhaps been accustomed for years. In general, he 
is still surrounded by old friends, and, to some extent, 
participates in his usual recreations. On the other hand, 
it is customary for the wife to give up her previous pur- 



HOME-BUILDING. 53 

suits for the one of housekeeping. The step that takes her 
from girlhood to wifehood separates her present and future 
interests from those left behind. The transition cannot 
be made so gradual as to occasion no discomforts, and 
there will be lonely, weary hours quite often, while the 
husband is away at business. It is a duty a young wife 
owes to her health to make every effort to use well those 
solitary hours. 

Rye Henry Chevasse recommends pleasure as an aid 
to health. Said he, " Pleasure to a certain degree is as 
necessary to the health of a young wife, and to everyone 
else, as the sun is to the earth, to warm, to cheer, and to 
invigorate it, and to bring out its verdure. Pleasure in 
moderation, rejuvenates, humanizes, and improves the char- 
acter, and expands and exercises the good qualities of the 
mind, but, like the sun, in its intensity, it oppresseth, drieth 
up, and withereth. Pleasures kept within due bounds are 
good; but in excesses are utterly subversive to health and 
happiness." 

To keep herself physically strong is one of the greatest 
duties. Life, with health, is joy and gladness in itself, 
while life without health is burdensome. The judicious 
spending of the first year of marriage is of the utmost 
importance in making and strengthening the constitution 
for future years. The state of wifehood is beyond and 
above that of maidenhood ; and in proportion as it is happy, 
is every charm of character heightened. Maternity only is 
needed to completely develop and perfect all the powers of 
mind and body. 



54 FEMINOLOGY. 

Many young housewives do themselves irreparable in- 
jury in attempting to conform to the standard of their 
grandmothers whose days were all work and no play. 
Grandmother's example was not salutary. She did not take 
time to think that in giving her entire strength to tasks, she 
was robbing her children and grandchildren of vitality; 
which has given us a generation said to be " weaker and 
wiser." If wisdom will only commend moderation in 
labors as well as pleasures, the daughter of the future will 
come out wiser and stronger. 

Some people think because exercise of mind and body 
is indispensable to health, they must be at something con- 
tinually. Particles of muscle, bone, and nerve are worn 
by every thought and motion; so that sleep and rest are 
necessary that repairs may succeed the waste. Quick, vig- 
orous action destroys particles already ripe for use, which, 
unless they are used, get flabby and inelastic. But if exer- 
tion is continued past the point of fatigue, weakness and 
exhaustion will be the result. When nervous force is con- 
sumed faster than the system can replenish it, prostration 
soon follows; and in women the delicate female organs are 
among the first to suffer. 

Repose is the great restorative. To lie down upon a 
couch during the day, in an easy physical attitude, and 
let the mind dwell on nothing but the thought of rest, 
should be a daily habit, if possible. The couch not being 
convenient, a relaxation of mind and body assumed for a 
time will give some rest — but the tension of the body must 
be first lessened. Ease of mind can come through ease of 



HOME-BUILDING. 55 

body; and the practice becomes delightful after a few trials 
of this valuable recipe for health and strength. 

The joys of motherhood are fondly anticipated by most 
wives. And, as every child has the right to be well-born, 
right living becomes a hundredfold more essential to her 
who would have a little one of her own. Whatever quali- 
ties are desirable for a child to possess, must begin in the 
parents. A pure, sound life will fit them to transmit just 
such elements as will create lovable traits in their offspring. 
Normal women do not crave children for their own 
sake alone, but as links which strengthen the love between 
the father and themselves. The joys of wifehood are step- 
ping stones to the joys of true motherhood. 
In " Kathrina," Dr. Holland says : — 

" Whatever goodness had not been revealed, 
Through the relation of her heart to mine 
As loving maid and mistress, found the light 
Through her maternity." 

Mrs. Lowell's beautiful poem, " The Morning Glory," 
expresses the exact meaning of a child to the parent's 
heart, as — 

" The last and perfect added gift 
To crown love's morning hour; 
And how in her was imaged forth 
The love we could not say, 
As, on the little dewdrops round 
Shines back the heart of day." 



CHAPTER III. 

AMATIVE DESIRES. 

Each function of body or mind is complete in itself, 
but bears a necessary relation to all others. Together they 
make up the individual man or woman, who, in turn, are 
incomplete without the relation one sex bears to the other. 

The brilliant and popular Henry Ward Beecher once 
uttered a paragraph which sounds the keynote for treating 
the subject of this chapter. Said he, " There is nothing 
superfluous in man ; if he were to be made again he would 
doubtless be made as he is. Man's faculties are well con- 
structed. The fault is not in the faculties themselves, but 
in the use of them. Every part is needed. In religion is 
not included the moral feelings alone, but also the imagina- 
tion; and not the moral feelings and imagination alone, 
but also the reason; and not the moral feelings, the imagi- 
nation, and the reason alone, but also the affections; and 
not all these combined alone, but all the organic passions 
and appetites — subordinated, controlled, applied to normal 
and proper ends, but nevertheless the passions and appe- 
tites. For a man without his appetites and passions would 
be like a tree pulled up by the roots. As long as man 
lives on the physical globe, and is dependent on a physical 
structure to think, feel, and act in, so long must he have 
appetites and passions." 
56 



AMATIVE DESIRES. $ 7 

Amativeness, or sex love, has long been regarded as 
a low instinct. Happily for the final triumph of the human 
race, the idea is being outgrown through the light afforded 
by study consecrated to the subject. This passion is the 
generator of creative power and of the impregnating influ- 
ence which makes all thought and action bear fruit of its 
kind. To all who cultivate the idea that sex love is 
degrading, it really becomes such; because they bar the 
door between it and the feelings and emotions which ele- 
vate. If, in thought, amativeness becomes separated from 
reverence and spirituality, which connect with all that is 
high and holy, a well-rounded character can never be at- 
tained. 

The attraction between men and women is in harmony 
with the life forces of the universe, and is as moral and 
steadfast as the law of gravitation, or any other natural 
law, known or unknown. The alphabetic lesson, so far, 
has only been learned — that harmonious sex relation is 
pleasurable in all stages, and that children are often the 
results of physical union, with or without union of the 
spiritual. To recognize the usefulness of the powers of 
sex beyond this point is the next step. Creative energy is 
a spiral stairway by which all essential elements of com- 
pleteness are gained. It must first be recognized as a force, 
and then directed and appropriated to right uses. 

The body is the temple, or prison, of the soul, as the 
will permits. It may be consciously controlled so that all 
the powers may be brought to serve the highest good; or. 
the organic senses may be yielded to until the individual 



58 FEMINOLOGY. 

becomes a toy to be tossed about by the waves of circum- 
stance and environment. It is a matter of education in 
the majority of people, to subordinate the passions and 
appetites to the spiritual. If only such were born as are 
offspring of parents who love in the fullest meaning of the 
word, it would be no effort to bring the bodily functions 
into proper relation to the moral and intellectual. 

Normal sex love is not antagonistic to spiritual growth. 
Rather, it is a large part of the foundation upon which 
the superstructure of morality and intellectuality rest. The 
higher must necessarily rest on the lower. The roots must 
supply the leaves and branches, or life ceases. If the foun- 
dation is not strong and substantial, the superstructure can- 
not restrain itself. 

Sex is universal, from the smallest living atom up to 
man. There are lives double-sexed, but nature does not 
create a neuter gender. As the scale ascends, the sexes are 
more distinctly male and female, and the perpetuation of 
life appears to be the culmination of being throughout the 
scale. On the way to fulfillment of this mission, vegetables 
and animals give many expressions of the creative energy. 
The blossom of the flower is the mating time of the male 
and female principles, which union produces the fruit and 
seed. It is beautiful to the eye, and fragrant to the sense 
of smell, as a rule ; a delight to all who behold. 

In humankind there are many ways of appropriating the 
powers of sex, aside from the propagation of the species. 
In fact, a larger department of the generative instinct may 
be formed by the conserved elements of sexuality. Chil- 



AMATIVE DESIRES. 59 

dren of the mind, child-thoughts, may be born ; new inven- 
tions, a new sermon, a picture, a poem, many feelings and 
actions that will bless and uplift all around. In any work, 
in any phase of life, the power to accomplish is immeas- 
urably heightened by controlling and directing this unseen 
yet mighty force. Like the power furnished by steam or 
electricity, when subordinated by intelligence, serves useful 
purposes; uncontrolled, they are agents of destruction. 
Amativeness reaches farther than any other passion or emo- 
tion, and is less recognized as a factor for good. But 
mother Nature teaches that it is a law, a power not to be 
ignored, by the suffering resulting from violation. It does 
not matter that a babe does not know fire will burn ; when 
it comes in contact with a hot stove, it suffers. "A burnt 
child dreads the fire; " it avoids the stove until intelligence 
unfolds to the extent of being able to control the fire. In 
regard to sexuality, the majority are as the little babe, 
continually suffering for infraction of the law, else are 
avoiding and trying to stamp out all sex desire. The results 
are not helpful nor uplifting; for the generation of life, 
of health, of thought, and act comes as a recognition and 
application of the power of sex. Persons in whom this 
force has been wasted, stamped out, or in whom it has never 
developed, will be found lacking in ability to do; wanting 
in the originality that penetrates and begets thought and 
emotion in others with whom they come in contact. 

A blending of the masculine and feminine elements is 
fulfillment of the law, not only in the sense which produces 
physical forms, but in all states and conditions of life, moral, 



60 FEMINOLOGY. 

intellectual, and spiritual. Disease is never the result of 
intelligent sexual relation; in fact, disease would be elimi- 
nated, if harmonious living in all the phases of conscious 
existence were the rule. 

To be in accord with nature men and women should be 
loving husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. Celibacy 
is incompleteness, although it is sometimes preferable to 
marriage; that is, a marriage not in keeping with the laws 
of life, or where those laws are disregarded, is a worse 
state than celibate life. But a happy marriage — one in 
which sexual relations are held in accordance with love 
and reason — affords the very best condition for the growth 
of the spiritual. The union at first may be purely material, 
the parties not realizing that sex is of the higher powers 
as well as of the physical; but if intelligence guides, and 
the wife be not oppressed beyond her natural desire, such 
relation becomes a refining power, and evolves an under- 
standing of the more complete functions of sexuality. 

Only when joined to selfishness which seeks an ephem- 
eral physical gratification without regard to the happi- 
ness of another, does amativeness become an impulse foul 
and unlovely. Many persons, especially of the male gen- 
der, become unscrupulous in seeking sexual satisfaction, 
using the force of persuasion or actual physical violence 
to accomplish an end, which, for them, does not exist; for 
by a natural law, woman belongs to herself. Nature has 
so decreed that no life-quickening elements may be gath- 
ered, unless freely and lovingly given. A legal decree may 
convey the idea to a man's mind that his wife belongs to 



AMATIVE DESIRES. 6 1 

him at all times; he may waste his own forces, he may 
ruin her health, but he can gain no real benefit from inter- 
course without her consent. Satisfaction comes not from 
promiscuous, or frequent, physical unions, but in the com- 
plete blending of the entire sex forces, spiritual and physical. 
Such deep soul unions are replete with lasting satisfaction. 
The frequency of the relation cannot be given by any set 
rule; sex expression belongs so entirely to participating 
pairs. Each couple should seek that which is best in results, 
and thus become a law unto themselves. 

A well-known author says, " Intercourse, as to time 
and frequency, can be governed by no certain law. Yet 
experience has proved that it is far more satisfactory to 
have at least an interval of two to four weeks; and many 
find that even three or four months afford greater impetus 
to power and growth, as well as greater personal satisfac- 
tion; in the interval, the thousand and one lover-like atten- 
tions give reciprocal delight, and are an anticipating 
prophecy of the ultimate union." 

If circumstances should arise separating husband and 
wife for a time, it would not be possible for either to lend 
themselves to a union other than the one to which their 
mutual complete love pledges them. Loving courtesies 
prophesy loving intercourse. It is manly for a man not 
to conceal the tender regard he feels for his wife ; and it is 
sweetly feminine and wifely to manifest love for a husband. 
Only those on a low spiritual plane observe no intermediate 
approaches to intercourse. To them there is but one expres- 
sion of love, the physical union. A prudery, a mock mod- 



62 FEMINOLOGY. 

esty is frequently cultivated between husbands and wives 
on the idea that it is indelicate to show any tenderness for 
each other in the presence of a third person. It is true, a 
third person may not understand the regard; and, because 
it cannot be shared, politeness decrees that undue exhibi- 
tion of the delicate feelings of conjugal love be reserved 
for privacy. But love is not loathsome that it need ever 
be stifled. Indifferent or repellent conjugal manners are 
odious in the extreme, but because of some peculiar, prob- 
ably insincere, idea of modesty, it is a common practice, 
and should be condemned. 

Regarding the exercise of amativeness, it should be 
understood by all who are married and by all candidates 
for matrimony, that excesses are disastrous to health ; that 
mutual disgust is born of it, which often becomes chronic 
before there is time to realize the danger. 

One author, who does not offer any considerations for 
the benefit of the spiritual, advises sexual congress for 
healthy persons, as follows : " Between twenty and thirty it 
should not exceed twice a week ; between thirty and forty it 
should not exceed once a week; after forty it should be 
lessened according to the age and desire." This is intro- 
duced because many young pairs do not know there should 
be a limit to seeking sensual pleasures inside the pale of 
exhaustion. It is not the best of recommendations in that 
the physical phase of intercourse only is recognized. 

Until parties can appreciate marital love in its entirety 
one infallible rule should stand out boldly before them ; that 
is, disinclination on the part of one or the other is sufficient 
cause in itself that intercourse be not urged, insisted upon, 



AMATIVE DESIRES. 63 

or forced. This rule will develop the first principles of 
spiritual growth, by restraining an impulse for the good of 
one beloved. It trains the will power which guides to suc- 
cess when assisted by the conserved elements of sex. 

In its selfish sensual aspect the horrible perversions of 
the generative instinct would fill volumes. No other way 
will so debase, befoul, and degrade the pure and spiritual as 
the misuse of amativeness. When intercourse is indulged 
in for the mere pleasure of sensation, its name is changed to 
lust; as when those who are otherwise men and women 
created in God's image, through debauchery become pros- 
titutes. 

Prostitution. — The ordinary acceptance of the term 
" prostitution " signifies that temporary relation between 
men and women, outside the marriage relation, in which 
women receive pay from men for the " use " of their bodies. 
It has been the world's custom to stone the woman and let 
the man go free. But as upholders and supporters of the 
institution, to the thinking mind, men become the ones most 
deserving of blame. The depths of degradation to which 
the sexes descend together is sickening to all who have 
purity. Men who have pure wives go from the polluted 
atmosphere of the brothel into the intimate association 
allowed by marriage. If the wives are sensitive, there is a 
shrinking not to be explained except through the knowledge 
that promiscuity deadens sex love. The injustice done is 
threefold. First : the wife is defrauded of a pure marriage 
relation. Second : the woman associate in prostitution is 
further degraded, and the institution itself strengthened by 



64 FEMINOLOGY. 

patronage. Third : in addition to paying the wanton's fee, 
the man expedites the sale of himself into slavery. " People 
may call him happy," said the philosopher Seneca, " but he 
pays his liberty for his delights, and sells himself for what 
he buys." 

Vile and degrading as prostitution may be, it is a small 
drop in the ocean of wrong when compared with the evils 
resulting from abnormal amativeness in the marriage rela- 
tion. This is a strong statement, yet it will be upheld by 
the heart responses of countless women who are bowed down 
by the despair of hopelessness. Men, too, suffer from the 
perversion of an instinct capable of generating health, happi- 
ne£o, and progress. But men do not, cannot suffer to the 
extent women do in forced relations. It is not in the 
province of nature for a woman to be a rapist; although 
she is blamable in allowing herself to yield an unwilling body 
in response to demands, importunities, or violence. 

" I do not suppose," writes Mrs. Waisbrooker, " that the 
husbands of unhappy wives and unwilling mothers have 
insisted upon obedience to their desires in all cases. They 
have made no demand so far as the letter of a demand is 
concerned; but with a sort of lordly indifference they have 
said by their manner, if not by words, ' Do as you please. I 
make no claims ; but if you are free, I am. I can find other 
women who will accept me.' She knows that he can make 
her utterly wretched even if he does not drive her from his 
home and put another in her place, thus separating her from 
her children. So she yields to what seems the lesser evil 
because she has not the courage to face the consequence of 
a refusal." 



AMATIVE DESIRES. 65 

Many wives are so surfeited with intercourse that they 
have no chance to learn whether or not they have sexual 
desires. They long for love that expresses itself in kisses 
and caresses and tender thoughtfulness, yet they must re- 
strain themselves for fear an advance on their part would 
arouse the dozing tiger of animalism in their husbands. Not 
only do they yield themselves, but also become impregnated. 
The burden of enforced motherhood, hard enough in itself 
to bear, is light beside that other burden of ministering to 
relentless passion. It is the rule, not the exception, that 
during pregnancy husbandly demands do not cease, either 
for the sake of child or mother. What should such a father 
expect who ignores the best interest of a child for his 
own temporary gratification, but that the child, in turn, 
would ignore his welfare when age or infirmity overtake 
him? 

Nearly forty years ago Dr. Pancoast made the assertion 
that wives should control the maternal function. " It is her 
privilege," he said, " to say when and to what extent she 
will suffer; when she should have children, and what will 
be the number of her progeny. By entering the married 
state it does not follow that she shall be plundered of her 
health in obedience to the sensual behests of her connubial 
companion. Indeed, no man of feeling, sense, decency, and 
justice will be found willing to have his wife suddenly trans- 
formed from a beautiful and healthy being into a miserable, 
emaciated, and sallow specter. Excessive venereal indul- 
gence, excessive child-bearing, excessive nursing, are terribly 
destructive of the vital forces of woman's organization; 
$ 



66 FEMINOLOGY. 

hence she is destined to languish, to fade away, and die 
prematurely. Twenty years of a woman's life are sacrificed,, 
upon an average, to perpetual physical and mental misery. 
Between nursing and breeding there is scarcely a single hour 
left for the system to recuperate, and regain its normal 
standard of health and vigor." 

Some years later Mrs. Hooker wrote, " It is scarcely an 
exaggeration to say, that, so far, in the history of our race, 
the unreasoning and inordinate indulgence of animal passion 
on the part of the man, and affectionate submission on the 
part of the woman, have had more to do with the continu- 
ance of the race than paternal or maternal instinct, or 
consideration of any sort whatsoever." 

It is not meant to assert that all men are wife-oppressors, 
or that all wives lack self-assertion. The hope of the future 
rests in the few that love intelligently in the married state. 
All truths are not palatable, but unpleasant ones are none 
the less truths because eyes and ears are closed to them. So 
long as women must minister, against their own desires, to 
sensuality in men; so long as motherhood is not left as a 
sacred matter of choice to woman, there remains a crying 
need for valiant service in helping the oppressed. 

The beginning of a purer life is reached when a husband 
can so control the physical desire for sex union that he may 
caress and kiss his wife or lie by her side without making 
demands she is not able to meet. Affectionate wives are so 
frequently made victims in all stages of married life ; in all 
bitterness it is felt after motherhood comes. Maternity, with 
its pains and cares, is a drain on sexual vigor that men sel- 



AMATIVE DESIRES. 67 

dom realize. A husband whose nature has ever tasted love 
in its unselfishness does not expect, much less demand, 
sexual union during those times, but with a lover's con- 
sideration he waits until his beloved indicates the relation 
would be pleasurable and beneficial to her. When passion 
can be so controlled, attractiveness increases in sweetness 
and intensity, and a direct physical exchange becomes a 
reverent sacrament of the soul; a generator of spirituality, 
strength, and beauty. 

One well-known writer states that " the laws of man's 
being provide as effectually for the healthful distribution of 
seminal secretions when he is married as when he is not." 

Another says, " It is the action of the mind, chiefly, that 
stimulates excessive seminal secretion. The husband, being 
the devoted lover, with similar, untiring, delicate attentions 
can attain the same self-control he practiced during court- 
ship." 

Another believes that " a man's morbid imagination, or 
morbid desires have much more to do with his licentious 
acts than has the abnormal in his sexual nature." 

The younger Dumas once said, " Hold men accountable 
for the ' irresistible passion/ and they will immediately resist 
it zvith a virtue of which they never believed themselves 
capable; in the same way that they resist the desire of 
putting into their own pockets the glittering gold of money- 
changers, because there is a law which pronounces the 
execution of the desire a theft." 

All students on the subject are almost a unit in declaring 
that man is capable of continence in marriage and out of it 



68 FEMINOLOGY. 

if he so wills; and that health and happiness, wisdom and 
honor, through it become his heritage. If impurity exists 
in the soul, very slight causes arouse it ; an indication of its 
existence is where men teach and act on the mistaken theory 
that physical sex-union is a necessity. The notion is as far 
removed from true conjugality as midnight from noonday. 

Ignorance and selfishness are the blinds drawn between 
the sunlight of love and knowledge and humanity. So long 
as people are content to live in ignorance the blind will not 
be lifted from their understanding. But the righteous dis- 
satisfaction which seeks to know more and more, will find 
a way to rend the veil of darkness. And, as love and knowl- 
edge fill the soul, ignorance and selfishness vanish as night 
before the approach of day. 

Children and youth should be taught the dignity of sex 
and the disaster that follows a wrong use of creative 
energy, the responsibility of parenthood, and the conjugal 
relation should be instilled into the growing mind by loving 
fathers and mothers. The mistakes and shipwrecks of 
thousands of married lives might be averted if the sexes were 
to learn beforehand how to equip and steer the marital ship. 

Very few young women know what the state of matri- 
mony means, although nearly all expect sometime to enter it. 
Not only do they not know, but they do not care to know. 
From a false notion of purity and propriety it is current 
opinion that a young woman should not know what the mar- 
riage relation includes before she is a wife. 

On the other hand a young man may " pick up " ideas 
from all sources. From early boyhood the majority are 



AMATIVE DESIRES. 69 

possessed of the thought that sexuality is theirs for the 
pleasure to be derived from it ; and to gain that pleasure all 
sorts of pollution and perversion are attempted, in many 
instances. Although a young husband's knowledge of mar- 
riage may be more extended than his bride's, it is no more 
practical. The consummation at the earliest opportunity is 
thought to be not only a privilege, but rather a duty, and 
a kindness to the bride. What duty in such case really is, 
is the recognition in the very beginning of married life that 
the choice in the " banquet of love " should belong to the 
wife. An enormous amount of physical and mental suffer- 
ing to women would be spared by such a course. Unhappi- 
ness, disappointment, often disgust, which many wives do 
their best to conceal, would be done away with as unhal- 
lowed feelings of the Dark Ages. 

Dr. R. T. Trail gives clear and unmistakable testimony 
when he says, " God and nature have given to the female 
the supreme control of her own person so far as sexual con- 
gress and reproduction are concerned — indeed for any and 
all purposes. . . . Under all circumstances it is for the 
female to accept or refuse, and not for the male to dictate 
and enforce." 

With this lesson impressed upon the minds of young 
people about to be married they will be saved from the suffer- 
ing caused by excesses in the new and tender relationship; 
and from the degradation resulting from uncontrolled im- 
petuosity on one side, and passive submission on the other. 

There is one result of perverted amativeness not yet 
touched upon in this chapter, which must not be overlooked. 



;o 



FEMIX0L0GY. 



The loathsome disease fastened upon those who have sinned 
are of such serious consequences that the very knowledge of 
possible contagion should be enough to scare men and 
women back to the path of virtue; if virtue it can be called 
where fear restrains from sin. 

Syphilis is a common disease among persons of unclean 
habits, sexually. An itching, burning sensation, a few days 
after impure coition has taken place, is the first warning a 
victim has of infection. Then a small red spot appears upon 
which is a vesicle the size of the head of a pin. The con- 
tents soon become purulent and the disease spreads. One 
phase of it becomes constitutional, while the other is local, 
eating away surrounding flesh more rapidly than cancer. 
Referring to the male organ, a prominent physician says, 
"If it were made of ordinary sponge, it could hardly be a 
better conductor of impure fluids directly to the circulatory 
system; and if this fact were fully understood by the male 
portion of the human family, dens of harlotry would soon be 
closed for want of patronage. A man would as soon bend 
to quench his thirst at a public sewer as to visit the abode of 
the courtesan for the gratification of his amative appetite." 
When once taken into the system, syphilis will well-nigh 
baffle every cure. It may be seemingly cured for a time, but 
it is almost certain to reappear, probably to curse an innocent 
wife, or to inflict disease and death on helpless offspring. 
Nearly all offensive ills, consumption, scrofula, skin disease, 
can be traced to a syphilitic taint in the blood of ancestors. 
What people risk to gratify unholy passion cannot be 
weighed in the balance against it. All that is pure, all that 



AMATIVE DESIRES. 71 

is ennobling, is too great a price to be paid for a passing 
momentary gratification. 

Aside from syphilis are the disorders that come from 
self-abuse, which sap vitality from otherwise healthy bodies. 
Mental hallucinations disturb, and physical ailments distress 
till life becomes a pall of gloom to the victim of self-pollu- 
tion. Sexual excess has much the same effect. 

Parents who would have their children live clean, health- 
ful and honorable lives must not hesitate to fortify them 
against the evils which abound in the train of abused or 
perverted creative energy. 

Parents mold not only their children, but their descend- 
ants to many generations. And as the sins of the fathers 
descend upon the children to the third and fourth genera- 
tion, so also will their virtues and intelligence. The ex- 
ample must be given as well as the precept. The sign 
manual of the pure in heart is the reverent regard that is 
held for sexual relation in its true meaning. 

When youth may learn the lesson from lips of a pure 
parent, the groundwork for character-building becomes so 
strengthened that the temptations of sin are as the waves 
beating upon a house founded upon a rock of adamant. In 
the consciousness of moral cleanliness he can say with 
Tennyson, 

" My strength is as the strength of ten 
Because my heart is pure." 



CHAPTER IV. 

LIMITATION OF OFFSPRING. 

The reproductive function is common to all forms of 
life, but the most nearly perfect of each class must be the 
fittest for the perpetuation of their species. It is desirable 
that all men and women who have reached the years of dis- 
cretion, who are sound morally, physically, and mentally, 
having entered into a harmonious marriage, should become 
parents. 

Mrs. Isabelle B. Hooker makes the recommendation to 
married pairs in the following language : " You should desire 
children beyond all earthly possessions ; they pay their own 
way, and you cannot afford to live without them. Your 
whole life will be chilled if you willfully shut out these sun- 
beams." The wellsprings of joy, hope, love, are opened, and 
character rounded out as it can never be in the childless home 
or the celibate life. The evolution and perfection of the 
human race is in the hands of parents. A well-born child 
pays them directly in the satisfaction a bright, lovable child 
can give; but in the ultimate, in becoming a strong factor 
for good, is general civilization benefited by well-begotten 
progeny. 

The law of population as stated by scientific writers is 

that " there is a tendency in all animated existence to increase 

faster than the means of subsistence." Prudence during 

the married state suggests that the number of children be 

72 



LIMITATION OF OFFSPRING. 



73 



limited to the ability to care for them physically and spirit- 
ually, until maturity. Unhappily for the best development 
of the race, people unite in sexual union in season and out of 
season regardless of any ill results to children springing 
from such unions. 

Nature has many positive checks which have prevented 
the earth from being unable to support her inhabitants. In 
the vegetable kingdom examples are easily found. Each 
seed needs suitable soil, moisture, air, light, but in an over- 
crowded condition the plants come up weak, dwarfed, and 
useless. Every gardener knows the need of thinning, if any 
are to grow into hardy plants. Other checks are birds that 
eat the seeds, animals that devour the stalks, man that uses 
a large proportion of vegetation for subsistence; and there 
yet remains enough to seed more than all available soil for 
the next season. In the animal kingdom many prey upon 
others ; thousands upon thousands are used for human suste- 
nance annually. Among human beings the checks seem to 
have been war, famine, and pestilence, which have removed 
untold numbers of lives from the earth. But these life- 
destroying checks are being removed one by one, by science 
and civilization. War will soon come to be regarded with as 
ill favor as individual dueling; nations' difficulties will soon 
be settled by arbitration, and not by death-dealing enginery 
which destroys or disables the flower of their manhood. The 
otherwise victims are thus left to become fathers of families. 
The general knowledge of absolute cleanliness and sanitation 
will be another preservative of life. With these doors of 
death barred, population will increase more rapidly — " faster 



74 FEMINOLOGY. 

than the means of subsistence." But the thoughtful, rational 
being who improves nature in all directions, is learning to 
deal with the law of population as with every other natural 
law which presses on him unpleasantly. Birth-restriction is 
being brought before the public mind as preferable to over- 
crowding, and moral restraint is superseding misery and 
vice. 

The onward march of science and reason is slow, but it 
is steady. Although the reformer, impatient with the ills 
and injustice through which the majority suffers, doubts 
the final triumph of the good, the fact remains that the 
present condition of the human race is superior to any it 
has known heretofore. Love, as understood by the enlight- 
ened of the present, is the product of modern thought. The 
false, the fickle, the sensual, the dishonorable, and the faith- 
less can never know it, for its benefits and delights are for 
the reverent. All the beautiful love poems of ancient or 
mediaeval times but slightly conceal the immorality and sen- 
sualism of the times — men were too sensual, and women 
too servile to comprehend a pure passion. 

For the purpose of restricting the birth-rate there are 
means of self-restraint and prudence which at once appeal to 
the reason and high moral feelings of those open to convic- 
tion. Obedience to this higher law never brings satiety 
which " blunts passion and clips the wings of love." In- 
stead, each day brings wedded lovers nearer each other in 
harmony and helpfulness. 

A recent publication very beautifully unfolds this prin- 
ciple of sex-expression. It states, this law signifies " to 



LIMITATION OF OFFSPRING^ 75 

express affection in both words and actions." Following 
are two paragraphs elucidating the true marital union : — 

Marriage is consummated " in such a manner that, 
through the power of will and loving thoughts, the final 
crisis is not reached; but a complete control by both hus- 
band and wife is maintained throughout the entire relation." 

"Approaching the event, expressions of endearment and 
affection accompanying general bodily contact is followed by 
the complete but quiet union of the male and female organs. 
During a lengthy period of perfect control, the whole being 
of each is submerged in the other, and an exquisite exaltation 
experienced. This may be followed by a quiet motion en- 
tirely under full subordination of the will, so that at no time 
the thrill of passion for either party will go beyond a pleas- 
urable exchange. Unless procreation is desired, the final 
orgasm is entirely avoided." 

The same theory was treated of in a pamphlet entitled 
" Male Continence " which is now out of print. In it the 
author explains how he was brought to the experiment of 
the plan so named. Said he, " The discovery was occa- 
sioned and even forced upon me by very sorrowful expe- 
rience. In the course of six years my wife went through 
the agony of five births ; four of them premature ; only one 
child lived. This experience was what directed my studies 
and kept me studying. After our last disappointment I 
pledged my word to my wife that I would never again expose 
her to such fruitless suffering. I made up my mind to live 
apart from her rather than break this promise. I conceived 
the idea that the sexual organs have a social function which 



76 FEMINOLOGY. 

is distinct from the propagative function, and that these 
functions may be separated practically. I experimented on 
this idea^ and found that the self-control which it requires is 
not difficult; that my enjoyment was increased; that my 
wife's experience was very satisfactory, as it had never been 
before ; that we had escaped the horrors and fear of involun- 
tary propagation. This was a great deliverance. It made a 
happy household. I communicated my discovery to a 
friend. His experience and that of his household were the 
same. In normal condition, men are entirely competent to 
choose in sexual intercourse whether they will stop at any 
point in the voluntary stages of it, and so make it an act of 
communion, or go through to the involuntary stage, and 
make it an act of propagation." 

Noting the objections urged against this method of con- 
nubial embrace, the author continues : " The wholesale and 
ever-ready objection to this method is that it is unnatural, 
and unauthorized by the example of other animals. I may 
answer, in a wholesale way, that cooking, wearing clothes, 
living in houses, and almost everything else done by civilized 
man is unnatural in the same sense. . . . But I will come 
closer to this objection. The real meaning of it is, that male 
continence, as taught by us, is a difficult and injurious inter- 
ruption of a natural act. But every instance of self-denial 
is an interruption of some natural act. ... If it is noble 
and beautiful for the betrothed lover to respect the law of 
marriage in the midst of the glories of courtship, it may be 
even more noble and beautiful for the wedded lover to 
respect the unwritten laws of health and propagation in the 



LIMITATION OF OFFSPRING. yy 

midst of the ecstacies of sexual union. The same moral cul- 
ture that ennobles the antecedents and approaches of mar- 
riage will, sometime, surely glorify the consummation. " 

Those Pharisees who oppose birth-restriction, on what 
they assume to be moral grounds, are numerous. They stand 
in the light of those who are, in their extremity, seeking the 
better way. They loudly assert that a general knowledge 
of prevention of conception would produce greater immo- 
rality ; that the use of preventives causes disease ; that, were 
it possible, women would be only too glad to shirk the duties 
and responsibilities of motherhood. 

When an obstacle cannot be removed from the path of 
progress, the example of the tiny ant is to be commended ; 
that is, to go around the obstruction, and proceed regardless 
of it. 

Touching upon the objection that a knowledge of scien- 
tific checks would embolden vice, Mrs. Besant says : " Sup- 
pose that this were so, it might save some broken hearts and 
some deserted children ; men ruin women and go scathless, 
and then bitterly object that their victims escape something 
of public shame. And if so, are all to suffer so that one or 
two, already corrupt in heart, may be preserved from becom- 
ing corrupt in act? Are mothers to die slowly that impure 
women may be held back, and wives to be sacrificed that the 
unchaste may be curbed ? As well say that no knives must 
be used because throats may be cut with them ; no matches 
sold because incendiarism may result from them ; no pistols 
allowed because murders may be committed by them. . . . 
Women are not yet sunk so low that they preserve their 



78 FEMINOLOGY. 

loyalty to one only from fear of the possible consequences 
of disloyalty. Their purity, their pride, their honor, their 
womanhood, these are the guardians of their virtue; and 
never from women's hearts will fade the maiden and ma- 
tronly dignity which makes them shield their love from all 
taint of impurity, and bids them only surrender themselves 
where the surrender of heart and pledged faith have led the 
way." 

Answering the second objection that preventives cause 
disease, it can be generally stated that such is not the case ; 
but that the frequency in which coition is indulged, either 
with or without preventives, causes disease and inharmony. 
There are husbands who will furnish every available means 
of prevention except those which call for restraint of their 
own animal desires, that the fear of undesired offspring shall 
not " excuse " the wife from intercourse. This is a degree 
better than thrusting life upon children not wished for, and 
who do not ask to be born, but comes short of that marriage 
which refines and elevates. The intimacy which results 
from mutual love and mutual desire, does not disease nor 
defile; instead it places the pair in harmony with nature's 
laws, which harmony is health. Overindulgence is respon- 
sible for more than half the uterine ailments, and overwork 
might nearly cover the other half. 

It is a profligate mind that denies women the choice 
of motherhood for fear the race would otherwise die out. 
Preachers, and teachers, and doctors (men) have long ex- 
postulated on the duty of wives to accept unlimited maternal 
cares, because their acceptance implied unlimited sexual 



LIMITATION OF OFFSPRING. 79 

gratification on the part of the husbands. Once given 
opportunity to recover her self-poise from enforced mater- 
nity, or enforced cohabitation without maternity, the mother 
spirit, an essential part of true woman, asserts itself. The 
world has no need of children of women not mothers by 
nature. They are weeds whose seed is not the best for mak- 
ing the earth fruitful. Dr. Trail says, " Would it not excite 
the just indignation of man to be told by any person, even 
though that person were his lawful wedded wife, that he 
must beget children when he did not desire them?" To 
be sure ! The rule would not then apply. If by any chance 
a man becomes married to a wife abnormally amorous, in 
the intense exercise of her physical desire, he soon is reduced 
to a standard mentally and physically lower than his fellows. 
The number of such women is very much smaller than men 
of like tendencies, and, it is said, they are less likely to 
become mothers than one who is negative in the sex relation. 
But the women married to abnormal men, their name is 
legion ; men who will have intercourse regardless of all con- 
sequences of disease or accidental children. If the occur- 
rence itself were the end of the matter, the problem would 
be simplified, but the children must be fed and educated, and 
finally assume the responsibilities of manhood and woman- 
hood. The knowledge of how to avoid such miserable 
chance conceptions should belong to all wives. Happy 
indeed are they, who, through the practice of the Higher 
Law, are lifted beyond the necessity of using mechanical 
appliances for avoiding haphazard impregnations. But 
duty to themselves and to society must consist in not beget- 



80 FEMIXOLOGY. 

ting children beyond the means to care for them, or beyond 
the strength of the parents to produce offspring physically 
and morally sound. 

A plan or device for contraception, to be successful, 
must be one that married people in general are willing to 
adopt. The very ones who ought not to propagate are 
those who will not accept advice requiring the exercise of 
self-restraint. Whereas they would be glad to make use of 
scientific checks such as would not interfere with the pleas- 
ures of self-indulgence. 

There are so many authorities agreed on the importance, 
in many instances, of making the sexual act fruitless, a few 
quotations are introduced : — 

Dr. Nichols : " The world is full of miserable wretches, 
the results of sexual commerce forced upon a loathing wife 
by a drunken husband." 

Dr. Elliott : " There are times and conditions when the 
birth of children is a wrong to the community. It is wrong, 
either knowingly or ignorantly, to bring into the world 
through no fault of its own, a being impure, unhealthy, and 
incomplete only to suffer and die, or to live a life of misery 
and imperfection, and perpetuate the curse in succeeding 
generations." 

Richard Carlile : " It is not wise, not parental, not kind, 
to breed children to such disasters (disease, pestilence, fam- 
ine). It is better that they should not be born than be cut 
off prematurely by disease, or struggle through a life of 
disease, poverty, and misery — a life of pain to themselves, 
and both a pain and burden to their parents." 



LIMITATION OF OFFSPRING. 8 1 

Mrs. Besant: "An extraordinary confusion exists in 
some minds between preventive checks and infanticide. 
People speak as though prevention were the same as de- 
struction. But no life is destroyed by the prevention of 
conception, any more than by abstention from marriage. 
. . . Life is not made until the male and female elements 
are united; and if this is prevented, either by abstention 
from intercourse among the unmarried, or by preventive 
intercourse among the married, life is not destroyed, be- 
cause the life is not yet in existence." " To limit the family 
is no more a violation of nature's laws, than to preserve 
the sick by medical skill; the restriction of the birth-rate 
does not violate nature's laws more than does the restric- 
tion of the death-rate." 

Prof. H. Newell Martin : " Many a wife who might 
have led a long and happy life is made an invalid, or brought 
to premature death or insanity, through being kept in a 
chronic state of pregnancy." 

Dr. Sismondi : " When dangerous prejudices have not 
become accredited, when our true duties toward those to 
whom we give life are not obscured in the name of a sacred 
authority, no married man will have more children than 
he can afford to bring up properly." 

Mrs. Duffy : " If this limiting a family is really a sin, 
let us see if we can find in what that sin consists. There 
is nobody harmed. On the contrary, direct good accrues 
to parents and to the fewer children who are allowed to 
come. It is impossible to say the unborn children are 
injured; for a person cannot be injured who has no exist- 



82 FEMIXOLOGY. 

ence. Married happiness is not only more generally per- 
mitted, but is greater in consequence." 

Another physician : " The world is groaning under the 
curse of chance parenthood. It is due to posterity that 
procreation be brought under the control of reason and 
conscience." 

Another authority : " Women have rights as well as 
men, and to force a woman to have more children than 
her constitution will bear, or it is her desire to have, is 
an act of cruelty that no upright man would sanction. It 
is against the true dignity of a woman to become a mere 
child-bearing drudge." 

There are other reasons than that of immoderate inter- 
course causing too numerous increase of inferior progeny. 
To some women the period of gestation and birth is one 
of constant discomfort and torture. For such to be com- 
pelled to undertake motherhood is martyrdom. Yet many 
husbands knowing this fact, and in almost certain knowl- 
edge that the birth of a babe will cause the mother's death, 
often enforce pregnancy. Marriage does not warrant the 
sacrifice of women on the altar of lust. 

There are many individuals who suffer from transmis- 
sible diseases, who should be restrained from reproduction. 
In all its strictures it should apply to those who by criminal 
intercourse have contracted venereal disease. This poison 
never entirelv leaves the svstem, and no matter how srreat 
the remorse or repentance of the sinner, he should never 
become a parent. 



LIMITATION OF OFFSPRING. 83 

Where any taint of insanity exists in either husband 
or wife, there should be no offspring. 

There is a class of wives who develop extraordinary 
fecundity. Cases are known where less than a year elapsed 
between confinements. An instance is known to the writer 
hereof, where a woman gave birth to twins, and in nine 
months and nine days thereafter was delivered of a son. 
One of the twins lived, the other two succumbing to defi- 
cient vitality. Although that occurred some years ago the 
parents have never permitted themselves to bring other chil- 
dren into existence, A woman of this constitution must 
soon be overcome by ills, unless conception is prevented. 
With a considerable interval of rest between births, she 
may be able to build up robust health. Easy pregnancy 
is as much of a disorder as barrenness, and right living 
only will correct it. 

Abortion cannot be considered under the head of pre- 
vention of conception. It is premature birth brought on 
by interference with nature's laws. The practice is not 
uncommon in all classes of society, in order to avoid unde- 
sired children. It is suicidal on all who produce it on 
themselves; it is destructive to health to submit to the 
atrocious practice. The wicked tampering with nature 
revenges itself always, even if the woman escapes blood 
poisoning or peritonitis at the time. 

From the moment conception begins, a new life begins 
to exist ; all that is further required is time and undisturbed 
repose. The embryo life is distinct and separate from that 



84 FEMINOLOGY. 

of the mother, though sc closely connected with her own. 
Nature placed this tiny undeveloped man or woman in a 
location seemingly secure, and placed every guard around 
it to keep it safe until the hour should come when it is fully 
prepared to make a ccmplete change in its mode of existence. 

A well-known physician, writing on abortion, says, 
M The life of a babe in arms is to the mother more precious 
than all else: her heart is thrilled with a pang of agony 
at thought :: the least darker to its life. Bv what false 
reasoning- 1 : es she convince herself that another life still 
more dependent upon her for its existence, with equal rights 
and possibilities, has no claim upon her for protection?'' 
The occasions for temptation to produce abortion are many. 
Some wives simply io not care for children, and become 
red-handed murderers by arresting- the development of the 
embryo: seme have mother love enough t: cherish a babe 
in its earliest stages of growth, if they could be relieved 
of the frequent, often nightly, approaches :: the sensual 
husband. To such abortion seems the Least :f two evils. 
Submission to passion is nerve-destroying enough without 
the additional cross of caring for an infant. However, 
two wrongs never make one right. Young women, not 
wives, are often made prospective mothers in yielding to 
a seducer's wiles. The horror of facing a conventionalism 
that would send them further into the depths, induces 
them to seek the supposed relief feticide will bring. 

The remedy is. as has before been stated, abstention 
from intercourse by the unmarried, or preventive inter- 
course anions: the married. 



LIMITATION OF OFFSPRING. 85 

Abortion is attempted occasionally that is unsuccessful. 
Some of the most wayward persons ever one's unhappy 
lot to know have been children of mothers who tried unsuc- 
cessfully to destroy them before birth. 

Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, is an illus- 
tration. His mother was in poor health from bearing chil- 
dren in quick succession, and had also to work hard because 
of lack of means to secure assistance. Before this child's 
birth she is said to have resorted to every means known to 
her for destroying the embryo, and did not succeed. For 
several weeks during the latter part of pregnancy she had 
brain fever. The life of Charles Guiteau bears out the 
truth of prenatal influence — no common sense, no shame 
nor remorse, and little, if any, self-controlling power about 
him. None but will say it were better conception had, 
in this instance, been prevented. If it is a crime to end 
a miserable life (outside of law), it is certainly as great 
a crime to give it a beginning. 

One woman's confession to another reveals the ago- 
nizing state of mind she was in : " There was the eternal 
round of hard duties; no rest for body or mind. There 
was the unending sickness that precedes childbirth, and 
the heavy dragging at back and brain. Life was nothing 
but the acute consciousness of imposition and cruel wrong. 
I turned away from prayer, with a mental curse upon God 
for making men the lustful creatures they are, and creat- 
ing women as the tortured receptacles of their lusts." 

This is an instance desperate in the extreme ; but mother- 
hood does become a curse and a terror to nearly all women 



86 FEMIXOLOGY. 

who are deprived of control of the maternal function, 
when it should be the choicest of blessings. Nothing will 
so surely destroy the mother instinct than the enforced 
intimacy of marriage, from which escape seems impossible. 
Not until enforced motherhood ceases to be, not until such 
children are conceived that are desired by both parents, will 
abortion cease. These are two evils which destroy the 
finer instincts of women in the havoc caused by loss of 
health and hope, through the slavish drudgery to maternal 
requirements. 




CHAPTER V. 

PRENATAL INHERITANCE. 

The responsibility of bearing and rearing children is 
one of such vast importance the subject cannot be studied 
too carefully or too frequently, to grasp the idea in all its 
bearings. Parents are themselves responsible for the kind 
of children they have. But, because they cannot deny 
themselves the pleasure of the generative act, and do not 
know how to neutralize the effects of it, they accept the 
condition of parenthood without realizing the duties and 
responsibilities involved. Education creates breadth and 
depth to mind and soul, develops reason, skill, acuteness, 
makes men and women more fit for parenthood. But it 
is not comprehensive enough that does not include the 
knowledge of how to have good children — or none. Once 
to know how it becomes as easy to bring forth offspring 
endowed with health, genius, and goodness, as it is to have 
children inferior or mediocre. While the heart-satisfaction 
given parents by loving, lovable children, is reward a thou- 
sandfold for the thought necessary to produce such results. 

The discovery that conditions surrounding the preg- 
nant woman do affect her child has had an influence to 
help women avoid unpleasant sights in many instances. But 
prospective young mothers do not yet know the infant 
within their bodies may be so affected. It is not enough, 



88 FEMINOLOGY. 

however, to avoid unpleasant sights. If a babe in the 
womb may be " marked " by accident, with unpleasant char- 
acteristics, or deformity, it goes to prove there is an influ- 
ence that may mold to perfection, if turned to advantage 
as are other forces of nature. 

The relation of mother and unborn babe is the most 
intimate that may be conceived. There seems to be a deli- 
cate sympathy between them, organ for organ, part for 
part. If any portion of the mother's body or brain is con- 
tinuously or intensely active, the part of the child corre- 
sponding is stimulated to increased growth. 

The term prenatal influence applies to all states or con- 
ditions that affect an unborn child through its parents. 
These forces cause the child to be influenced also by the 
condition of both father and mother some time before, and 
at the time of, conception. It naturally follows that to 
give a child the best conditions possible for prenatal growth, 
it should not be conceived accidentally, but be prepared for 
lovingly and intelligently. The direct influence of the father 
is transmitted at the time of conception; not only are his 
permanent characteristics handed down, but also those 
temporarily existing at conception. If the father love the 
mother, the union will engender a child of love; but if the 
mother be the passive instrument by which passion in the 
father is momentarily satisfied, the child can never rise 
above mediocrity, no matter what future environment and 
education may do for him. 

Heredity, that " law by which living beings tend to 
repeat their characteristics in their descendants/' is at the 



PRENATAL INHERITANCE. 89 

foundation of character. It is the law that like begets like. 
What is transmitted by heredity is seed-germs of the har- 
vest sown by ancestry. But these transmissible qualities 
are modified by prenatal influence, so much so that it is 
a common item of comment that children of the same par- 
ents, born within a few years of each other, are often 
totally unlike, both in mental and physical attributes. A 
case bearing on the point is related by Professor Fowler: 
"A drunkard's wife declares that she can trace minutely, 
in the great diversities of character and disposition of her 
numerous children, just those very states of mind exist- 
ing when she was bearing each. She was happy while 
carrying her first, and it is peculiarly beautiful and amiable. 
But while carrying her next, her husband began to drink, 
which overclouded her sky and awakened her displeasure; 
and the child corresponds with this state of her mind. Then 
came his drunkenness with her poverty, and that severe 
buffeting adversity which called out all her force-imparting 
and unamiable traits; and the characters of those born 
during this sad period correspond with it ; so that she reads 
in their characters the history of her life and feelings while 
carrying each one." How much better to know how to 
have only good children, or none." 

Qualifications for Parenthood. — The qualification for 
parentage first and foremost are, that genuine, unselfish love 
exist between the father and mother-to-be. Without it their 
marriage is not a true one, which creates a wrong basis in 
the very beginning. Bodily fitness is of vital importance. 



90 FEMINOLOGY. 

and in addition, is mental and moral fitness. Generation is 
the function of all organisms, and the fitness to become 
parents should be a question above and beyond all others. 

A general ignorance of the functions of the body has 
been encouraged in times past. Were it not for the recu- 
perative forces of nature constantly at work to heal, the 
race must surely have vanished from jthe face of the earth 
on account of the sins of ignorance. 

In her " Essays on Social Topics," Lady Cook says, 
" We English are unsurpassed in breeding the inferior ani- 
mals — from a salmon to a shorn lamb, from a pigeon to a 
race horse. The method is no secret. All understand it. 
Healthy animals only, with the best points, and free from 
hereditary taint, are selected. They are mated carefully, 
and the strains are preserved from all deteriorating blood 
and damaging conditions. But in the breeding of the high- 
est animal, these salutory maxims are ignored; and men 
of natural affection and intelligence bestow more pains on 
the mating of their dogs than on their daughters." The 
same state of affairs obtains in America. As if the health, 
happiness, and complete life of the human were of less 
importance than that of the lower animals, because the 
pay cannot at once be realized in dollars and cents. 

Mothers are awakening to the truth that within them- 
selves lies the power to beautify or mar the developing 
unborn babe, although but few probably understand the 
method of operation by which the results may be shaped 
by intelligent purpose. Dr. Pancoast said, "As the potter 
molds his clay into beautiful and fantastic devices, so it 



PRENATAL INHERITANCE. 91 

is largely in the power of woman to assist nature in forming 
the most perfect and glorious of human, intellectual, and 
physical developments and conformations." If she does not 
undertake the assistance intelligently, nature works on alone, 
allowing whatever affects the mother to influence the fetal 
growth. 

Following are cases cited in evidence of the fact that 
babes inherit conditions of mind or body, like those affect- 
ing the mother during pregnancy : — 

1. " A pregnant woman who was suddenly alarmed from 
seeing her husband come home with one side of his face 
swollen and distorted by a blow, bore a girl with a purple 
swelling upon the same side of the face." — Dr. Pancoast. 

2. " The only child of a lady who was pregnant was 
badly burned and blistered about the face, causing the head 
to appear an unnatural size. The frightened mother so 
affected the child in utero, when delivery came, the forceps 
were needed to bring a dead baby into the world, with a 
head blistered, and vastly out of proportion to the rest of 
the body." — Talks on Nature. 

3. " A mother received at her door a visitor who had, 
in the median line of his neck, an aperture where a tracheal 
tube could be worn — in fact, it was cleft by such a tube. 
The mother was impressed with the conviction that her 
:hild would be deformed, and it was born with a cleft in 
the median line of its neck, almost identical in appearance 
with the observation." — Dr. Ashburton Thompson. 

4. "A child was born with holes in the lobules of its 
ears, as a result of the mother's seeing holes in the ears of 



92 FEMINOLOGY. 

her favorite daughter. The mother was adverse to her 
daughter's having her ears pierced, and it made a decided 
impression on her, though she had no idea her baby would 
be so born." — Dr. Fordyce Barker. 

5. "A boy babe was born having the fourth toe on 
his left foot missing. In trying to account for it his young 
mother remembered the instance of her husband's manicur- 
ing the nails of her left foot one day ; when working on the 
fourth toe, he suddenly remarked in jest, ' I guess I'll cut 
this one off.' She screamed and drew away the foot, laugh- 
ing as she did so. But the start caused the babe to lose 
his toe." — A Recent Observation. 

6. " I know a lady, who, during her pregnancy, was 
struck with the unpleasant view of leeches applied to a 
relative's foot. Her child was born with the mark of a 
leech coiled up in the act of suction on the identical spot." 
— Dr. Millingen. 

7. " A small boy attending school had the habit of 
betting with schoolmates, and was always the winner. He 
won marbles, knives, and even schoolbooks. So great was 
his mania for betting, if he saw two flies alight on the win- 
dow, he would bet which would fly away first. It was 
annoying, both to his own parents and to those of the boys 
who lost; and the transgressor was talked to, whipped, 
shut alone in a room, punished in every way, to no purpose. 
On consulting the family physician, the conditions before 
birth were inquired into, which brought out the following 
facts : while the wife was carrying this boy, the husband 
was a horse jockey, and, being at the track every day, 






PRENATAL INHERITANCE. 93 

learned which horses were to be winners. He had his 
wife visit the track, and bet on the horses selected by him, 
with the result that she nearly always won her bet, becom- 
ing very much excited during the races. Afterward, the 
parents became converted, quit the race track, and went 
into other business. Other children were born to them, 
quiet and obedient. The parents were told by the physi- 
cian that punishment would never eradicate the habit of 
betting in their firstborn, which was woven into the fiber 
of his being in his mother's womb." — A Recent Obser- 
vation. 

8. " The father of an idiotic girl explained the cause 
of her condition to be the result of fright on the part of 
her mother. Said he, ' About three months before her 
birth, as I was riding home on horseback through the woods 
at dusk, with my wife on behind, by a clearing we saw 
something among the brush near the road, which frightened 
her terribly. She insisted on our fleeing for safety, while 
I was bound to stop and see what it was. It was a drunken 
man lying on his back, and rocking back and forth from 
head to feet; from infancy this girl has been idiotic, and 
staggered and rocked exactly like that drunken man." — 
O. S. Fowler. 

9. " Dr. Curtis took the cast of a deformed child born 
in Lowell, whose mother, some months before its birth, 
was frightened by seeing her only son brought in with the 
back and top part of his head crushed, as she supposed. It 
proved that only the scalp was torn off. But the shock 
ruined the embryo child." — Professor Foivlcr. 



94 FEMINOLOGY. 

10. "A woman who was forced to be present at the 
opening of a calf by a butcher, bore a child with its bowels 
protruding from the abdomen. She was aware at the time 
of something going on within the womb." — Dr. Pane oast. 

11. "The wife of a drunkard was carrying a child. 
One evening, while sitting on his doorstep, a hungry pet 
pig came up to him squealing for its milk. He raised his 
walking stick and struck it a blow, breaking its back. The 
wife, who witnessed the act, said the cry of the little ani- 
mal went through her like a knife. The pig dragged itself 
around for several weeks, and then died. When the child 
was born, its back and lower extremities were apparently 
useless. When it cried, the sound was like the scream of 
the pet pig when its back was broken. When nearly a year 
old, the afflicted babe died." — A Recent Observation. 

Observations familiar to all who have read on this 
subject are the following : — 

The remarkable instinct for war was noticeable in 
Napoleon Bonaparte in his earliest childhood. He was 
always talking of it and anxiously looking forward to the 
time when he could enter upon a military life. While 
very young, he delighted in thunder storms, so much so, it 
was almost impossible to induce him to seek shelter. He 
was always delighted by the fury of war among the ele- 
ments. Although he had four brothers, none of them dis- 
played any fondness for war while young, nor had they 
any marked military ability in maturity. Previous to his 
birth his mother accompanied her husband upon a mili- 
tary campaign, and herself helped to plan movements of 



PRENATAL INHERITANCE. 95 

the army. Being in the open air and upon horseback, she 
acquired perfect health and buoyancy of spirit. The babe 
grown under such conditions afterward caused all Europe 
to tremble before his military genius. 

Mozart, the musician and composer, received his genius 
for music from his mother, who constantly exercised her 
own musical talents, and was surrounded by musical peo- 
ple during pregnancy. Afterward, she abandoned it, even 
taking a dislike to the art. The children born thereafter 
had no musical talent. 

Another musical prodigy, the daughter of Madame Bor- 
ghi-Mamo, when only three or four years of age repro- 
duced all the delicate expressions and flourishes of the 
opera in which her mother then sang, without a word of 
instruction. At the time Madame Borghi-Mamo was preg- 
nant, she sang constantly, even to the day the infant was 
born. 

The case of Zerah Colburn, the mathematical prodigy, 
is one astounding. When but six years of age, his mental 
computations were surprising even to the learned world. 
On being asked how many days and hours in 1,811 years, 
he replie'd, in twenty seconds, that there are 661,015 days, 
and 15,864,360 hours. This remarkable genius was con- 
ferred on him by his mother, without knowing it. She 
was a weaver who often invented and copied new figures, 
which work required the exercise of computation. A few 
months before the birth of Zerah, the mother undertook 
to copy a figure that troubled her to understand. For 
several days she tried, and studied on it by night, until, 



96 FEMINOLOGY. 

at last, she found that by weaving a certain number of 
threads one way, and so many another way, would bring 
the required figure. The extraordinary effort on her part 
was organized in the make-up of the child, although she 
herself was not familiar with arithmetic. 

The vigorous exercise of any special intellectual fac- 
ulty during pregnancy will render that same faculty more 
acute and powerful in children than in the parents. 

Dr. Sidney Barrington Elliot relates the case of a lady 
personally known to him, in whom an unusual literary 
tendency manifested itself very early in life. It took the 
form of dietetics and health reform; and was accounted for 
as follows : the father was a physician, and, during the 
mother's pregnancy, was engaged in writing lectures on 
hygienic subjects. The mother took great interest in his 
work, acting the part of home critic and assisting in every 
way she could. 

Dr. Brittan mentions the case of a finely formed young 
man whose splendid symmetrical body was molded through 
the mother's contemplation of a beautiful French litho- 
graph hung in her sleeping-room, the mother herself having 
a large, thin frame, without a suggestion of the beautiful. 

Instances most commonly noted have been those in 
which deformities or unpleasant mental traits are to be seen. 
Being unpleasant marks, inquiry as to the cause brings out 
the fact that some untoward sight or condition before birth 
produced it. 

Beautiful, healthy children are not born so by chance, 
but as the result of pleasant conditions surrounding the 



PRENATAL INHERITANCE. 97 

mother before birth, and from a healthy and virtuous parent- 
age. Women in health are not apt to mark their offspring 
with deformity; while those who are weakly, nervous, and 
easily affected will the more surely influence the unborn for 
ill. To avoid unpleasant impressions it is only necessary 
for the mother to follow the rules of health, breaching 
deeply of pure air, taking sufficient exercise, and partaking 
of the right kind of diet. In this she should be assisted 
by the father. For it would be next to impossible for a 
woman to make her own conditions sufficient to produce 
the best results in children. If a prospective mother be 
so unfortunate as not to have her husband's co-operation, 
it yet remains that she should preserve self-poise and do 
her best for the child's sake/ Independent of her husband's 
aid, she possesses the power to develop character in her 
offspring, if only heroic enough to meet the demands of 
the occasion. But, as Mrs. Duffy says, " Husband and wife 
should co-operate in this occasion of solemn importance to 
them both. Only willingness to forget self and give his 
whole thoughts and energies toward the perfection of the 
human being which his act invokes, and to lighten the 
cares and pains which he thus lays upon its mother, can 
justify a man in the solemnly important act of creation. 
A woman with a husband who realizes all this and strives 
to the utmost of his endeavor to do his duty toward their 
future cl}ild, is truly blessed among women; and blessed 
through her blessedness is the fruit of her womb." 

That prenatal inheritance shall be of the best, mother- 
hood should be prepared for by the parents, both fitting 

7 



98 FEMINOLOGY. 

themselves for the best characteristics to be transmitted 
at conception. No time is too early to determine what 
the trend of character shall be. The unfolding of the new 
life should be the first consideration, and all self-interests 
made secondary. The father should be equally interested 
with the mother ; to do which he need not neglect his busi- 
ness, but simply extend his kindness, courtesy, regard, and 
sympathy, so that the home-coming after business hours 
may become a fond anticipation for the wife. Such regard 
will lighten a grievous burden. Many women agonize and 
almost die for want of the fuel which feeds the flame of 
love, especially during pregnancy. There are times when 
they wish to be the "clinging vine;" probably the only times 
during life are in pregnancy. But so sadly often does the 
" strong oak " stand from under, and leave the vine in the 
dust at his feet. This is wrong, despicably wrong. Instead 
of being crushed, self-assertion should rise in the prospec- 
tive mother, and she will in consequence bear a child of 
spirit and determination, instead of one buffeted about by 
the tide of events. 

Parents should decide on the occupation they wish for 
the child, and then the mother should read, think, study, 
and create the atmosphere necessary to the realization of 
their plan. If they wish for a musician, that should be 
studied, as was the case with the mother of Mozart. If 
an artist, poet, teacher, preacher, lawyer, doctor, mechanic, 
farmer, engineer, or what not, it only becomes essential 
that the mother dwell on the subject as constantly as may be, 
in the meantime being surrounded with such things as are 



PRENATAL INHERITANCE. 99 

necessary to her peace of mind and happiness. A mother 
relates her experience in character-molding, in the language 
ensuing : " About a month before the birth of my first, 
thinking it about time for me to learn something about 
confinement, because unwilling to trust all the doctors, I 
got various books to mothers. I found not only what I 
wanted touching confinement, but also how I could shape 
the original character by self-culture before birth. Sorry 
I had not known this earlier, I determined to ' put my house 
in order ' for next time, and see what I could do to improve 
subsequent ones. I had always wanted an eloquent son, 
and when I found myself likely to bear my second, gave 
myself up wholly to hearing orators, reading poetry and 
classical works, and listened to every good speaker in the 
pulpit and lecture-room, at the bar and in the legislature, 
on the bench and political rostrum; which accounts for 
the speaking instincts of my second son. While carrying 
my third, desiring a painter and artist, I visited, with a 
trained artist, the art studios in New York, Boston, Phila- 
delphia, and other places, giving myself up wholly to the 
study and admiration of the fine arts; which accounts for 
the third son's artistic taste and talents. While my fourth 
was coming forward, we were building our new country 
home. My husband was obliged to leave before it was 
completed. I had to be head mechanic, contrive this, that, 
and other mechanical matters, pay the men, look after the 
farm, economize material and labor; see that farmers and 
workmen did not impose on us. Consequently this son has 
extraordinary ability as a business man." 
LofC. 



ioo FEMINOLOGY. 

In the first few months of pregnancy, a wife should 
avail herself of every means by which her physical vigor 
shall be perfected, for it is in these first months that the 
child's body is forming. She should be in the open air 
all that is possible, wearing loose, light, comfortable cloth- 
ing. Working in the garden is wholesome and pleasant 
work, and the positions of stooping and squatting bring 
into action the abdominal muscles so much needed in car- 
rying the unborn. The point to be kept in mind is never 
to exhaust herself — only make herself agreeably tired, so 
that rest seems good. 

General housework is also good exercise for those who 
enjoy it, because it calls into action nearly all the muscles 
of the body. 

The Spartans, a race of people physically beautiful and 
sound, owed their splendid bodies to the fact of the mothers' 
exercise during pregnancy. It was a legal requirement that 
wives should be surrounded with works of art representing 
strength and beauty. 

A taint in the blood of the mother, or in the germ of 
the father, will affect the babe in the womb. Syphilis, that 
curse of the impure world, has been developed in babes 
at birth, or a few weeks of age. Contagious diseases, as 
smallpox and measles, also affect the fetus. Vices and 
diseases are, strictly speaking, not transmissible; but if no 
care is used to overcome the tendency during pregnancy, 
the corresponding mental or physical organs of the child 
will be imperfectly developed, and, hence, unable to resist 
morbid conditions. It becomes a true maxim, " like parent, 
like child," when no influence works to effect a change. 



PRENATAL INHERITANCE. 101 

As a mother values the purity of her sons and daugh- 
ters, she must keep her thought and feeling away from 
intense sexual desire while pregnant. Naturally women 
prefer privacy during fetal growth, and in this should be 
sacredly respected by their husbands. Those husbands who 
believe intercourse a necessity to life and health are, too 
sadly often, criminally offensive. Childbirth is made more 
painful, often agonizing, by this transgression on the part 
of husbands. Both wife and child are robbed of nervous 
strength. Of this subject an eminent physician says, " He 
will avoid arousing her passions and his own, for he must 
not pollute his child's mind by indulging during pregnancy." 

A well-known author says, " I have long been thor- 
oughly convinced that sexual intercourse during pregnancy 
is entirely inimical to the best conditions for maternity." 

Almost every thinker and writer on the subject agrees 
that habitual intercourse develops an abnormal tendency 
toward sex-perversion in children. 

Professor Huxley once said, " Perhaps the most valu- 
able result of all education is the ability to make yourself 
do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done, 
whether you like it or not." A man who truly loves his 
wife and their unborn child will have little trouble in mak- 
ing himself do what he should, when he should. But in 
any instance, the occasion demands control of sex desire, 
for the sake of child and mother. If, as before recom- 
mended, husbands and wives have separate beds, the diffi- 
culty is obviated to a great extent, for the wife at least. 
If continence is hard for the husband, he should remember 
that maternity is also serious. 



102 FEMIN0L0GY. 

Men and women who have risen above adversity through 
their own efforts have been called " self-made." But had 
the parents not transmitted the qualities necessary to suc- 
cess, it could not have been won. 

Aged fathers and mothers have sometimes been left to 
suffer for the simple necessities of life by children who are 
well-to-do, notwithstanding the command, " Honor thy 
father and thy mother." That such offspring had no con- 
sciousness of duty is only due to the parents in having 
been regardless of the rights of others. 

It is hardly necessary to suggest to parents desiring 
offspring inclined toward true religion, that they themselves 
should practice it. It need not consist of the set forms and 
days of assembling together, although these are helpful. 
But a sincere aspiration toward goodness, virtue, and purity 
of life will open the " heavenward window of the soul," 
through which the life-element of the universe may be 
received. 

A prospective mother should avoid anger, or feelings 
of rebellion against her station in life. If it perplexes and 
worries her to visit homes more beautifully, furnished than 
her own, it can but be best to remain away; making the 
best of what is hers, assisted by the loving kindness and 
tender consideration of her husband, she can build a beau- 
tiful child-character, though humbly situated. Whatever 
task she undertakes should be finished quickly and thor- 
oughly, that her child may have perseverance and thor- 
oughness. Cheerfulness should ha cultivated at all times; 
annoying trifles ignored as much as possible. A calm, 



PRENATAL INHERITANCE. 103 

quiet, devout, happy frame of mind ought to be established 
and maintained through the combined efforts of parents. 

A pregnant woman should not nurse the sick, if it can 
be avoided. Those in health give of their health to the 
sick. She who is pregnant has a serious duty to her unborn 
child, that only herself can give. No matter how much 
love she may have for the patient, the constant care should 
be the duty of some one else. 

Many women are afflicted with insomnia while carrying 
a child, while others feel as if they cannot sleep enough. 
A correct mode of living will correct insomnia. A sepa- 
rate bed, proper diet, moderate exercise, and baths will 
ordinarily induce slumber. Sleep is a blessing to the pro- 
spective mother. To sleep all she wants will not prove 
too much. No matter how pressing duties may be, a large 
per cent of rest is due the bearing woman. 

Fathers of unborn children not infrequently are more 
considerate of their bearing female stock than of their 
wives, as if the principle were, that stock is money, and 
woman may be had for the asking. They might well pon- 
der the question of self-sacrifice! A mother counseled her 
daughter, " Take care of yourself. There will be more 
women after you are gone. Nobody else is apt to take 
care of you." The question draws to a fine point, and, 
as Spencer says, " Self-sacrifice passing a certain limit 
entails evil on all ; " the point is to discover where self-asser- 
tion on her part should begin. A mother cannot transmit 
self-poise to her child, unless through herself. Helen Gard- 
ner said, " In so far as the mothers of the race have been 



104 FEMINOLOGY. 

weakly subservient, in that far have they a terrible score 
against them in the transmission of the qualities which 
have made the race too weak to do the best that it knew, 
too cowardly to be honest even in its own soul." 

It is within the power of all parents to be artists in the 
noblest of all arts — the molding and rearing of children 
endowed with genius and tendencies toward good. 



CHAPTER VI. 

REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 

The Pelvis. — The pelvis is that part of the body formed 
by the broad bones of the hips, constituting a kind of basin, 
in which rests the abdominal viscera. It connects the lower 




The Pelvis. 



limbs and trunk of the body. The bones are joined in 
front, forming a double arch. The union is termed Sym- 
physis Pubis. In the back there is a separation by the five 
vertebrae of the sacrum. The brim of the pelvis is some- 
what oval in shape; the. breadth of the bones at the pos- 
terior affords support for the weight that must rest upon 

io 5 



106 FEMINOLOGY. 

them. The lower portions of the bones, called the Ischia, 
support the body when in a sitting posture. The opening 
in the basin allows the escape of matter to be eliminated 
from the body; in woman, during parturition, the infant 
head and body passes through this gateway. The preva- 
lent opinion, for a long time, was that the bones of the 




The False Pelvis. 

The lines a b, c d, and ef, show the relative diameters of the false or upper pelvis. 
This broad shallow cavity is fitted to support the intestines and to transmit a part of their 
weight to the anterior wall of the abdomen. 

pelvis were disposed to separate in labor, but it is not now 
believed to be true of the human mother. Otherwise the 
deformed pelvis would not be regarded as obstruction to 
childbirth. 

The position of the basin is oblique with the trunk of 
the body, being thus the better able to support the viscera 
and the uterus during the last stages of pregnancy. 

In woman, the longest diameter is from side to side. 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 



107 



In man, the depth is from back to front. The difference 
in shape of the pelvic region in the sexes is first noticeable 
at the time of puberty, when the work of ovulation calls 
for room and strength in the budding woman. 

In the female pelvis the bones are rarely or never the 
same shape. Owing to the precious gift of the maternal 
function, the opening in the cavity is always much larger 




The True Pelvis. 

The lines a and b show the diameters of the true pelvis. It is smaller than the false 
pelvis, but its walls are more perfect. The pelvis is replete with interest, since through jt 
must pass the fetus or unborn child. 

than in the male. But narrowness and deformity some- 
times exist, which preclude the possibility of motherhood. 
The want of capacity may be a natural formation, or may 
have been caused by accident. But incorrect dress during 
the early growing period has a tendency to prevent expan- 
sion. Little girls have often been put into stays, and skirts 
hung from the hips years before puberty. Many disor- 
ders of the generative system in women are directly trace- 
able to the mode of dress before and after puberty. 



io8 



FEMINOLOGY. 



Female Organs of Generation. — The principal reproduc- 
tive organs in woman are internal, as in contrast with those 
of man, which are external ; thus completing the complement 
nature intended the sexes to be to each other. The organs 
of woman protected within the body, are the ovaries, Fal- 
lopian tubes, uterus, and vagina. The external organs, 




A Flattened or Deformed Pelvis. 

From a casual glance at cuts on pages 105, 106, 107, and 108, it will be seen that the 
size and shape of the pelvis may have much to do with the ease or pains of labor. 

accessories to those internal, are the mom veneris, labia 
majora and minora, clitoris, urinary opening, and hymen. 

Beginning with those external, the mon veneris is the 
eminence above the external organs, consisting of fatty 
tissue, and, at puberty, becomes covered with hair. 

The labia (or lips) are folds of skin inclosing the urinal 
and vaginal orifices; the outer lips extend from the mons 
veneris to the perineum (that part lying between rectum 
and vagina). The inner lips are similar in organization 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 109 

to the external. Sometimes the outer and sometimes the 
inner are more prominent. In women who have borne 
many children the inner labia are elongated; while in the 
virgin the labia majora are the more prominent. Both 
pairs of lips are joined above and below, though wholly 
separated except at the extremities. The opening between 
the labia is called the vulva. 

At the upper union of the labia minora an arch is formed, 
in which is situated the clitoris, a small, firm body no 
larger than a pea. It is formed of a sponge-like substance, 
having the power of erection, and in many respects resem- 
bles the male organ of copulation. In the disease Nym- 
phomania, the clitoris is associated with the labia minora, 
both being so easily congested and so abnormally sensitive 
that the least friction or sexual suggestion arouses through 
them the passion which ruins or uplifts, as controlled by 
the mind. Where undue desire for intercourse exists, on 
the part of woman, a reputable physician should be con- 
sulted. It is a disease whose effects are ruinous. The 
contact of clothing with the clitoris is, in many instances, 
enough to excite sexual desire; and while immorality may 
not at first exist, a yielding to such excitement would 
engender it. 

By the practice of unnatural vice, the clitoris some- 
times becomes enlarged, often to the length of several inches. 
The gratification of sexual instinct between depraved women 
has been termed " Lesbian Love," from the island of Les- 
bos, where it is said to have been practiced. 

The urethra is the passage from the bladder for the dis- 



no FEMINOLOGY. 

charge of urine. The opening is between the clitoris and 
vaginal orifice, or vulva. 

The vagina is the canal which joins the labia with the 
uterus. The situation is between the bladder in front and 




Section of the Female Pelvis Showing Viscera. 

the rectum behind. The canal is m slightly curved, with 
the concavity forward, and is narrower at the middle than 
at the extremities. The length is from four to six inches. 
The vaginal muscles assist in the support of the uterus, 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 1 1 1 

the neck of which extends into the canal. The office of 
the vagina is to receive the intromittent male organ, and 
facilitate the passage of the semen to the uterus. It also 
voids the menstrual flow, and transmits the infant and pla- 
centa in labor. Its inner surface is lined with mucous 
membrane laid in numerous folds or wrinkles, which 
secretes a mucus. In health the discharge is merely enough 
to keep the vagina in a moist condition. The membranous 
folds become fewer after copulation and child-bearing. 

Near the external opening of the vagina is a membrane 
of semilunar shape, termed the hymen. In rare cases, this 
membrane has entirely closed the vaginal canal, and at the 
first menstrual period, great suffering has resulted, from 
the discharge filling the vaginal canal and extending back 
into the womb. Before relief is obtained a perforation must 
be made for the escape of the discharge. The hymen is 
usually ruptured during the first sexual congress. This 
gave rise to the theory that its presence must indicate vir- 
ginity ; but it is not now so regarded. It may be destroyed 
by accident or disease, or may be entirely wanting in some 
young women. Again, it may be so firm as not to yield 
at the first or subsequent connections, and to grow again 
in widows, or in wives absent from their husbands for 
some time. 

The uterus is the organ of gestation. It lies entirely 
within the pelvis in the unimpregnated state, and is sus- 
tained by eight ligaments partly, and by the tension of the 
vaginal muscles, which serve as do the pillars that support 
a roof, or pavilion. The position is between the bladder 



1 1 2 FEMINOLOGY. 

and rectum, above the vagina, and the ovaries laterally 
connected. In shape and size, the uterus resembles a flat- 
tened pear, the broad part upward. It does not attain full 
size until puberty; but after that the size is unchanged 
through life, in the barren woman or virgin. 

The average womb is three inches in length, two in 




The Uterus. 

breadth, at the point of entrance of the Fallopian tubes; 
at the neck the diameter is about one inch. The internal 
cavity is very small compared to the bulk, owing to the 
thickness of the muscular walls, which is necessary that 
the organ may accommodate itself to the growing fetus. 
Above the Fallopian tubes that part of the womb is called 
the fundus; the lower contracted portion is the neck, or 
cervix; the principal part of the organ is called the body, 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 113 

and is the part which expands most during fetal growth. 
The cervix projects partly into the vagina, and forms the 
external opening of the uterine cavity. On discovering 
this projection, women have been known to consult their 
physician for treatment of what was thought to be a tumor. 

The ligaments supporting the uterus are very strong 
and very elastic, accommodating themselves to the various 
movements of the body, as walking, bending, jumping, 
crouching, etc. The weight of the organs above the womb 
is to be withstood, especially in an erect position, while 
the pressure from motion must also be sustained, as every 
jar or movement creates additional weight. 

The two round ligaments consist of muscular and fibrous 
tissue, arranged in bundles, and derived from the uterus 
itself. They attach to the uterus near the opening of the 
Fallopian tubes, and to the tendons near the front part of 
the pelvic bones. The other six ligaments are formed by 
folds of the peritoneum, the membrane that invests the 
entire abdominal cavity. The two broad ligaments are 
continuations of the peritoneum that covers the womb. 
They pass to the sides of the pelvis, and attach firmly to 
the bones, thus forming a wall that divides the cavity into 
two chambers. The anterior chamber contains the bladder, 
urethra, and vagina, the posterior chamber contains the 
rectum and a part of the small intestine, while the uterus 
and Fallopian tubes are in the partition wall, and the 
ovaries surmount it. Between the folds of the broad 
ligament are blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves, which 
supply the organs enveloped. 



114 FEMINOLOGY. 

The two anterior ligaments are folds connecting with the 
bladder. The two posterior ligaments pass between the sides 
of the uterus and the rectum. The cavity of the body of the 
womb differs in size and shape from that of the cervix, and 
in the structure of the mucous membrane with which they 
are lined. 'The cavity of the body of the womb is triangular, 
the upper angles being the points where the Fallopian tubes 
enter. The cavity of the cervix is oval. The lining mem- 
brane of the body is smooth, and everywhere perforated 
by tiny canals, which secrete nourishment for the embryo 
human in its early stages of growth. The membrane of 
the cervix is ciliated ; that is, there are minute fiber-like pro- 
jections on the surface of the lining, called cilia. In the 
living body the cilia are always in motion, resembling the 
appearance of a field of grain influenced by wind. The air 
passages are lined with ciliated membrane, which impels 
outward matter secreted. Likewise the Fallopian tubes; in 
them the movements of the cilia are toward the womb, in 
order to impel the ovum in that direction. And in the 
cervix the movement is toward the body of that organ, 
presumably to assist the spermatozoa in reaching it. 

The Fallopian tubes or oviducts are two conical canals, 
four or five inches in length, extending from the broad por- 
tion of the uterus as far as the brim of the pelvis. When 
straightened, the shape of the tubes resembles a trumpet, 
the wider portion being the free end. This is surrounded 
by fringe-like processes called fimbriae. The uterine ex- 
tremity is very small, scarcely admitting a fine bristle, but 
an ordinary quill can be inserted at the free end. The 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 



115 



function of the tubes is to convey the ripened ovule to the 
womb. When the egg is ready to burst from the ovary, 
the ringers of the tube are drawn toward that organ, and 
inclose it over that part where the Qgg is to be freed. By 
what agency that action is impelled yet remains locked in 
the vault of mystery. Once in the grasp of the fimbriae, 




Ovary and Fallopian Tube. 

Od, Fallopian tube; O, ovary; Oa, fimbriated extremity of the tube; Ut, section of 
the uterus, or womb. 

the ovule is urged toward the womb by the ciliated mem- 
branous lining. As before stated, these tubes are enveloped 
by the broad ligaments, except the funnel shape and fimbriae, 
which pass beyond the covering, in order to unite, period- 
ically, with the ovaries. 

The ovaries are often described as appendages of the 
uterus, but they are really the most important of all woman's 
reproductive organs. The ovaries represent the bird that 



1 1 6 FEMINOLOGY. 

lays the egg, and the womb, the nest that receives it. The 
ovaries generate the creative power in woman. The char- 
acteristics of the sex are contained in those minute, but stu- 
pendously wonderful bodies. No other generative organ 
so affects the peculiarly feminine nature. Remove the 
ovaries, and menstruation ceases, the appearance becomes 
masculine, the voice coarse; in some instances a beard 
appears. With their removal goes that vital essence that 
caused the person to sparkle with femininity and individu- 
ality; ambition dies; and she who was once a woman 
becomes an automaton, who exists without the power to 
taste life in its beauty and fineness. 

Some authorities assert that the ovaries absorb and 
throw out of the system, through the menses, those prop- 
erties which develop bone and coarseness of fiber. During 
pregnancy, when the flow is arrested, these properties are 
used for the development of the fetus. It is a plausible 
theory. 

The ovaries are two almond-shaped bodies, on either 
side of the uterus, about two and one-half inches distant. 
Each ovary is about one and a half inches in length, three 
quarters of an inch in thickness, at the broadest portion, 
and tapers to a half inch at the ends. The outer extremity 
is somewhat rounded ; and is attached to one of the fimbriae 
of the Fallopian tubes (which is about two inches in length, 
and serves to keep the extremity of the tube within easy 
reach of the ovary). The inner extremity is more pointed, 
and is attached to the side of the uterus by means of the 
ligament of the ovary. The ovaries project from the pos- 



n8 FEMINOLOGY. 

terior surface of the broad ligament about midway between 
the two extremities of the Fallopian tubes. The proper 
covering of these bodies is a dense, firm, fibrous coat, which 
incloses a soft, fibrous tissue abundantly supplied with blood 
vessels. Imbedded in the meshes of the soft tissue, and 
making up the main substance of the ovary, are numerous 
tiny, transparent vesicles, or bladders (so small as to re- 
quire the aid of the microscope to see them). The name 
applied is the Graafian vesicle, after their discoverer, De 
Graaf. They are sacs filled with a serous fluid, in which 
a single ovum, or egg, is situated. The matured vesicles 
are found near the surface of the ovary, ready to burst 
through, like a plant through the ground. The escape of 
the ovum takes place through an opening in the coat and 
the bursting of the vesicle containing it. A tiny yellow 
spot or point is left upon the ovary, which, after a time, 
disappears. 

The human egg is exceedingly minute, requiring from 
one hundred and twenty to two hundred and forty to fill 
an inch of space. It consists of a transparent coat, within 
which is the white and yolk, as in the eggs of fowls ; when 
exposed to heat, it coagulates. Imbedded in the substance 
of the yolk is the germinal spot, one three thousand six hun- 
dredth of an inch in measurement. This germ contains all 
the embryonic traits of the mofher herself, capable, with the 
proper conditions, of being developed into a living, sentient 
being. 

According to Chavasse, the escape of the ova takes place 
when the monthly flow ceases. Said he, " It requires from 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 



119 



two to five days to reach the womb, never reaching there 
until the flow has ceased. If no intercourse is had with 
the male, the egg passes from the womb, requiring from 
two to six days for the purpose." 




Mammary Gland. 

a, nipple, the central portion of which is retracted; b, areola; c, c, c, c, c, lobules of the 
gland ; 1, sinus or milk duct; 2, extremities of the milk duct. The surface of the nipple is dark 
colored, and surrounded by an areola, having a colored tint. In the virgin the areola is of a 
delicate rosy hue; about the second month of impregnation, it enlarges and acquires a darker 
tinge, which increases as pregnancy advances, becoming, in some cases, a dark brown or even 
black color. These changes in the areola are of extreme importance in forming a conclusion 
in a case of suspected pregnancy. 

The mammae, or breasts, are accessory to the organs of 
generation, their purpose being to supply nourishment to 
the infant from the time of birth until the teeth are suffi- 
ciently developed to masticate solid foods. They are promi- 



120 FEMIN0L0GY. 

nent eminences on either side of the chest, external to the 
great pectoral muscle. The weight and dimensions differ 
at different periods of life, and in different individuals. 
Enlargement is noticeable at puberty; during pregnancy 
and after delivery the increase in size becomes more 'appar- 
ent, owing to the milk glands being brought into activity. 
The mammary glands comprise a large number of secret- 
ing sacs, grouped in lobules, each lobule having an excretory 
duct. Ducts coming from adjacent parts, by successive 
unions, form into larger canals, finally terminating in the 
nipples. The conical eminences upon the summit of the 
milk glands are termed the nipples. Numerous openings 
perforate the nipples to admit the passage of the milk in 
the infantile feeding. Glands at the base secrete a fatty 
substance which protects the nipples from pain in the act 
of sucking. The color is pink or brownish, and surrounded 
by a colored circle, the areola. In the virgin, the areola 
is a rosy pink; after impregnation, it becomes darker. 
lAlthough the breasts are not connected, there is a strong 
sympathy between them; which is also the case between 
the breasts and the organs of generation. Fatty tissue 
surrounds the surface of all the glands, which largely 
determines the form and size of the breasts. 

The entire sexual system is abundantly supplied with 
blood vessels and nerves, which build up the waste tissues, 
in health, or warn of danger in case of disease. 

To preserve a healthy condition in the procreative 
organs, there should be absolute cleanliness maintained at 
all times. These organs are liberally provided with glands 
which secrete a lubricating moisture. If the secretions are 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 



121 



allowed to accumulate, they become rancid and decaying, 
and are inclined to inflame the parts. Every girl and 
woman should own and make daily use of a syringe. The 
vagina is thus kept in a wholesome condition, and the exter- 
nal parts are also cleansed by the free use of water. Each 
part of the body should be made as clean as the face daily. 
For leucorrhea or constipation nothing can be compared 
with the syringe as a corrective agent. 




Inner Structure of the Testicle, and Its Several Parts 
Unraveled. 

i, 2, 2, tubuli seminiferi; 3, vasa recta, forming the rete testis; 4, corpus highmorianum ; 
5, vasa efferentia, forming the coni vasculosi ; 6, a single tube formed by the junction of the 
vasa efferentia. This tube then becomes convoluted upon itself to form the epididymis; 7, S, 
beginning of the vas deferens; 9, the vas deferens becoming a straight, isolated tube in its 
ascent to the abdominal ring; 10, spermatic artery; n, spermatic cord spread out. 

Male Organs of Generation. — The reproductive organs 
of man affect fewer functions than those of woman, serving 



122 FEMINOLOGY. 

only for copulation and fecundation. In addition to 
responding to these offices, the woman nourishes and pro- 
tects the growing embryo within her body, and, after birth, 
continues to provide food from her organism for a time. 

The male organs are more external than those of the 
female. They consist of the testicles and their tubes, and 
the penis, with its glands. The testicles are the germ- 
producing organs and are the most important of the male 
sexual system, as are the ovaries in the female. They are 
two glandular bodies, lying side by side ; each testis is about 
the size and shape of a small hen's tgg, and is suspended in 
the scrotum by a spermatic cord. They are well protected 
from injury, having six distinct coverings : the two outer 
coverings, the dartos muscle and the skin, forming the 
scrotum. The appearance of the scrotum is considered an 
indication of the health of the body, especially in youth and 
middle age. In the robust, hardy man or youth, the scrotum 
is short, wrinkled, and closely applied to the testicles ; while 
in the old man, or one who has abused himself mentally or 
physically, and especially sexually, the scrotum is elongated 
and flabby. The testes are divided from each other by a 
wall ; this is indicated externally by a small raised line which 
begins at the root of the penis and extends over the scrotum 
between the testes. Like other glandular organs, the testi- 
cles are composed of numberless cells, a network of tubing 
and ducts, to carry away the secretions. The cells, vessels, 
and ducts are gathered into separate bundles, called lobules. 
Some four hundred of these lobules are contained in each 
testicle. Inside the lobules the seminal tubes are laid in 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 123 

coils; when raveled and laid in a straight line, each tube 
measures about a rod, but the diameter is so small as to 
require one hundred and seventy, side by side, to cover an 
inch of space. The walls of these tubes, not so large as a 
hair, consist of a plexus, or network of capillaries, absorb- 
ents, and nerves, which under the lens look like beautiful 
lace. Cells, full of force and life, line the walls, and draw 
from the blood food substance for the manufacture of their 
own particular secretion. The tubes themselves are the 
ducts which carry away the secretion to the reservoir, where 
it remains until used. Before leaving the lobules, the tubes 
become straight, and are given the name vasa recta, or 
straight vessels. They next meet and interweave, and, 
passing upward, become known as the rete testis, or tes- 
ticle net. At the top and rear, the rete forms into twenty 
or thirty larger ducts called vasa efferentia, which pass 
through the white coat encasing the lobules, and form the 
epididymis. The epididymis consists of a convoluted tube 
twenty feet long, or more, bunched in a tortuous mass, and 
held in place by areolar tissue. At the lower end of the 
testicle, where it is called the globus minor, it opens into 
the vas deferens, which carries the seminal fluid upward 
through the inguinal canal into the abdomen and pelvis. 

The spermatic cords extend from the inner abdominal 
rings to the back part of the testicles. They are each com- 
posed of a vas deferens, a cremaster muscle, an artery, 
veins, lymphatics, and nerves. The vas deferens leaves the 
cord when it enters the abdomen, and passes over and behind 
the bladder, back of which are the seminal vesicles or reser- 



124 FEMINOLOGY. 

voirs of the semen. At the base of the bladder the vas 
deferens unites with the seminal duct, forming the ejacula- 
tory duct. The seminal vesicles are situated between the 
bladder and rectum. Each vesicle consists of a single tube 
coiled upon itself, of the length of four to six inches, whose 
only opening is the narrow, straight duct which unites with 
the vas deferens. 

The prostate gland surrounds the neck of the bladder 
and base of the urethra. The shape and size resembles a 
horse chestnut. It is within this gland that the ejaculatory 
duct opens into the urethra, through which the seminal 
fluid is discharged. The gland itself has fifteen or twenty 
excretory ducts, which contribute to the composition of the 
seminal fluid and lubricate the interior of the urethra. The 
ducts open into that part of the urethra inclosed in the gland. 

Cowper's glands are two small bodies placed beneath 
the urethra and below the prostate gland. They are about 
the size of peas, and each has a duct to carry its secretion 
to the urethra to add to the seminal fluid. 

The penis is the organ of copulation and urination. It 
is mainly composed of two oblong cylinders placed side 
by side, whose cellular structure is capable of being greatly 
distended by a flow of blood, induced by exciting causes. 
The two cylinders run parallel, leaving a groove above and 
below. The upper groove is filled by a large vein; the 
lower by the urethra. The urethra is composed of a spongy 
substance, which expands at the head to form the glans 
penis, and covers the end of the two cylindrical bodies. 
Through the canal of the urethra the urine is emptied from 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 125 

the bladder, and in sexual intercourse the semen is passed 
through it at the time of orgasm. 

The body of the penis is covered with a loose skin, con- 
tinuous at the root with that of the pubes; at the head of 
the organ, it leaves the surface, and becomes folded upon 
itself, forming the prepuce, or foreskin. In infancy the 
glans is completely enveloped by the foreskin. In repose 
the penis is not more than one third the size when dis- 
tended. The main branch of the pubic artery enters the 
penis, the blood from which inflates it during erection. The 
blood supply to the testicles is carried by the spermatic 
arteries which branch from the aorta, just below the kidneys. 

All the delicate sexual system is organized to pro- 
duce and carry that subtile essence of the blood called 
sperm, semen, seminal fluid, or seed. The freshest and best 
blood from the heart is taken directly to the testicles to be 
there transformed into that which generates strength, viril- 
ity, sturdiness, and penetration in man. He who lives the 
life of purity derives a high state of health (all other things 
being equal), and a clearness of brain and strength of pur- 
pose not to be found in any degree of profligacy. In him 
the seminal fluid is secreted slowly, and when it reaches the 
vas deferens, is absorbed into the system, instead of dis- 
tending the seminal reservoir and being lost through emis- 
sions or intemperate intercourse. 

It is not until the reservoir is reached that the sperma- 
tozoa, or male germs, are evolved. Dr. Cowan says, " Here 
it (the semen) is retained ready for use at a moment's 
requirement ; and as with the man who cannot get his morn- 



126 FEMINOLOGY. 

ing dram or after-dinner smoke, who has a craving for 
unfulfilled desires, and who is miserable until obtained — 
so with the man who has sexually abused himself, when the 
daily or weekly chance fails to offer." 

When discharged from the urethra, the semen consists 
of a thick, albuminous fluid, composed of secretions from 
the epididymis, vas deferens, the prostate and Cowper's 
glands, and the spermatozoa. Of these, the spermatozoa 
are the true fecundating elements of the semen, or sperm. 
These are minute elongated bodies, invisible to the naked 
eye, about one five hundredth of an inch in length. They 
are possessed of the power to keep in motion, somewhat 
like the cilia, except that they are free bodies. They are 
organic forms, having an oval extremity or head, and a 
long, slender caudal filament. The larva of a mosquito, 
with its large head and slender " wiggle-tail," might be 
used as a crude illustration of the appearance. They move 
aimlessly about, and when left in the vaginal canal near 
the mouth of the uterus, propel themselves through the 
orifice ; where they are assisted by the cilia to reach the body 
of the womb. 

After having considered the importance of the testicles 
in the economy of man, it will not be difficult to perceive 
the effect of castration. In ancient times it was a common 
practice to castrate slave boys to make house servants. Also 
boys in choirs, that their voices might carry the parts in- 
tended for women to sing. This was only in Catholic 
choirs, where women were not allowed to appear; it was 
at last forbidden by the pope. Men so altered become weak 
in mind and body, and die early. 



REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY. 127 

Circumcision is an operation which consists in remov- 
ing the prepuce from the penis, in practice among the 
Hebrews as a nation, in obedience to the command of 
Moses. This is commended by many leading physicians, 
as conducive to cleanliness and health of man. Where men 
are not especially cleanly about the generative organs, the 
old secretions induce tenderness and soreness of the parts. 
About the neck of the glans penis are numerous glands and 
follicles that secrete an oily fluid to preserve the moisture 
of the glans and prepuce. In the daily bath the genitals 
should receive their especial share of soap and water to 
remove the secretions, and the foreskin pressed back that 
the glans may be cleansed. In circumcision, the neck of 
the glans is more readily attended, and no particles can 
easily be left to inflame and lacerate. It is said that this 
operation relieves nervousness, epilepsy, and kindred dis- 
orders in children or adults. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PREGNANCY. 

Conception. — The beginning of a human life merits 
the best thought that may be brought to bear on the sub- 
ject. As children receive from their parents those states 
of mind and body existing at the time of propagation, per- 
sons who desire strong, healthy, and beautiful offspring 
should make especial preparation for the conjugal embrace 
which will launch a new soul. 

At the cessation of the menses, the ovum will be in 
the firmest, freshest state, and more likely to develop a 
strong and healthy organism than later. Some writers 
assert that intercourse for the purpose of generation, to 
beget boys should occur before the menses, and to beget 
girls should occur after the flow ceases. 

Professor Thury, a French veterinarian, made the dis- 
covery among domesticated animals, that if at the first 
sign of heat in the female, the male be given, female off- 
spring results ; if given at the end of the heat, male offspring 
is begotten. Heat (also called rut), in inferior female ani- 
mals, is the period of sexual excitement, said to correspond 
with the menstrual period in women. 

Dr. Nichols, Professor Dalton, and others say that 
sex, in the growing embryo, is not determined until after 
the seventh week. 
128 



PREGNANCY. 129 

Dr. Mary Ries Melendy quotes from a lady who suc- 
cessfully experimented on the sex of her children : " From 
the time I felt positive that I was pregnant, I threw my 
mind on the lower portion of the body, keeping in mind 
the sex desired. I continued this for at least two months 
after discovering my condition. It was my last thought 
at night, first in the morning, and the one uppermost while 
performing my work." 

Without knowledge of the theory, two young parents 
controlled the sex of their first and second child in the same 
way. From the moment they expected to be parents to 
the first, they gave him a boy's name. Instead of speaking 
of the embryo as it, or the baby, the boy's name was used, 
and the thought regarding it was always of a boy. Like- 
wise of the second, who was given the name Rose. How- 
ever, as children come sexed, whether wished for or not, 
there must be a determining cause, aside from the parents' 
minds. And, as numerous experiments prove, the exact 
determining cause of sex may be said to be undiscovered. 

In the preparation for conception, physical vigor should 
be enhanced by a change of occupation. If both parents 
perform muscular work, they should rest the body and 
exercise the mind. Vice versa, if their habits are sedentary, 
physical exercise should be indulged in that bodily powers 
may be toned up to the highest pitch. 

That time of day is best which has been preceded by 

a good night's rest. One author says the functions of body 

and mind are most active near noon, and recommends 

that hour for the pro-creative embrace. It should never 

9 



1 3 o 



FEMIN0L0GY. 




occur when there is fatigue, husband and wife equally- 
interested, equally alive to the felicity and supreme impor- 
tance of the occasion. If the orgasm is reached at the 
same moment in both, the seminal fluid is, by its own 
momentum, through the union of the penis and mouth of 
the womb, thrown into the body of the womb. 

An old legend says that a ser- 
pent bit an egg, and the first 
man was born. There is a close 
analogy between the legend and 
human or animal fecundation : 
the spermatazoa resembling the 
serpent, and the ovum being an 

egg. 

The spermatozoa are not 
vivified until they reach the 
seminal vesicles, and are united with the secretions thereof. 
The life manifested is a mad rushing about, lashing the 
tail-like appendage, as if themselves were living organisms. 
The cause of the motion is supposed to be the same as the 
wave-like motion in the ciliated cells of the uterus and 
Fallopian tubes. Hundreds of spermatozoa are contained 
in a drop of semen. When deposited in the vicinity of an 
ovum, they are attracted toward it, surround it, and the 
one nearest the germinal spot strikes it with open mouth; 
and a new life is begun. The mystery is inexplicable. 
All know that it is, yet why is the union of these germs, 
so small as to be invisible to the eye, the beginning of that 
infinitely prized state, called life! 



Spermatozoa. 

From the human subject magnified 
eight hundred diameters. — (Luschka.) 



PREGNANCY. 



13 



Signs of Pregnancy. — Nearly all matrons, at the begin- 
ning of pregnancy, experience changes from their previous 
condition of health. Some at once feel more buoyant and 
cheerful, and take on new health and vigor. This is as it 
should be. But many more women suffer throughout the 
entire period. The condition of motherhood is in harmony 




Front View of the Unimpregnated Uterus and its Appendages, 
and Section of the Vagina. 

a, cavity of uterus ; b, body of uterus ; d d, fimbriated extremity of Fallopian tubes ; 
e, Fallopian tube; f, round ligaments; h, broad ligaments; k, walls of vagina; 1, fundus 
of uterus; g, vagina; m, fimbriated portion of tube grasping an ovum; o, ovum surrounded 
by spermatozoa in lower third of Fallopian tube during its passage toward the uterus. It is in 
this part of the tube where impregnation usually takes places. 

with nature, and if the best efforts are put forth to secure 
health for the mother and babe, there can be no reason why 
every normal woman should not be stronger and more beau- 
tiful after passing through pregnancy and parturition than 
before. 



132 



FEMINOLOGY. 



The first indication usually to be observed that a woman 
is enceinte, is the stoppage of the menses. At such 
time, nature changes her plan, the menstrual flow being 
used as building material to develop the embryo. Some 
physiologists aver that women may be pregnant, and yet 
menstruate, but this is at variance with any reasonable 

theory of the purposes of men- 
struation. When a discharge 
occurs after impregnation, it is 
not from the interior of the 
womb, but from abrasions or 
ulcers at the mouth of that 
organ, the body of the womb 
being hermetically sealed. The 
menses may cease from disor- 
dered conditions of the womb or 
other organs of the body, espe- 
cially of the lungs; but as a 
single sign, if a woman has here- 
tofore been in health, it is the 
most reliable. 

There are often many dis- 
orders of the general system 
but these depend on morbid 
conditions of the body, rather than the state of being preg- 
nant. Among them may be noted nausea, or "morning 
sickness," excessive secretion of saliva, indigestion, con- 
stipation, diarrhea; in fact, almost any symptom of any 
disease may develop. 




Normal Position of Unim- 
pregnated uterus. 



accompanying pregnancy, 



PREGNANCY. 



133 



Enlargement of the breasts occurs about the second 
month. The color of the areola about the nipple grows 
darker, until toward the close of pregnancy, it may be a 
very dark brown. An eminent physician asserted that he 
had such faith in this sign, as to be able to judge by it 
alone whether or not a woman was pregnant. The color 
varies in intensity according to 
the complexion of the indivdual, 
being much darker in the bru- 
nette than the blonde. Women 
who have large families seldom 
lose the mark entirely, but when 
pregnant, it is much darker than 
before. The breasts secrete a 
watery fluid noticeable in the 
latter months, and in a first preg- 
nancy this may be considered 
evidence conclusive. The breasts 
become firmer to the touch, the 
veins more conspicuous, and a 
frequent tingling, stinging sen- 
sation indicates the sympathy 
existing between the uterus and 
the milk-secreting organs. 

Enlargement of the abdomen is perceptible after the 
third month, when the uterus rises above the brim of the 
pelvis. It may be caused by tumors or dropsy, but in 
connection with other indications, it can be relied upon 
as a sign of pregnancy. At the fourth month, the womb 




Impregnated Uterus at 
Three Months. 



134 FEMINOLOGY. 

is two or three ringers above the brim of the pelvis. In 
a reclining position, the anxious woman can, by pressing 
the fingers above the frontal bone of the pelvis, discern 
the condition of the womb, which seems like a hard round 
ball, about the size of an orange. 

The period of quickening occurs near the fourth month, 
as a rule. In some instances, it has been known to occur 
as early as the third month, and again, as late as the sixth. 
This is the first perception, by the mother, of the move- 
ments of the infant growing within her body. The move- 
ments apparently consist, at first, in motions of the legs, 
but as growth progresses, the arms are also active, and 
the whole body seems to tumble about in the fluid in which 
it is immersed. The first experience of this movement 
has a variety of effects on different women. With some, 
there is faintness, nervousness, or sickness; with others, 
an indescribable feeling, almost akin to pain. The most 
common description of quickening is as if a bird were 
fluttering, moving its wings within the body. After a 
time, the movements usually become strong, elastic, and 
are discernible until time of delivery. Flatulence is some- 
times misleading to a young wife, causing her to fancy 
she has quickened. However, there are easily distinguished 
differences. In flatulence, she is small at one time, and 
large at another. In pregnancy, the enlargement is con- 
tinuous, gradually increasing. In flatulence, pressure upon 
the abdomen shows a yielding in one place and another, 
as the hand is moved about ; while in pregnancy, the fingers 
meet a solid resistance. 



PREGNANCY. 



135 



After the fourth month, the fetal heart-beat can be deter- 
mined by one accustomed to notice cardiacal motion. The 
ordinary pulse in woman is from 70 to 80 per minute, while 
that of the fetus is from 130 to 150 per minute. 

In cases of doubtful pregnancy, the appearance of 
the navel is to be considered. For the first two months, 
the navel is drawn in more 
than usual. As pregnancy 
advances, the navel con- 
stantly emerges, until it is 
even with the surface, and 
then protrudes until after 
delivery. 

At the fifth month, the 
base of the womb is on a 
line with the navel; at the 
sixth month, it has ad- 
vanced to two inches above 
the navel. At the end of 
the seventh month, the 
uterus enters the epigastric 
region. During the eighth 
month, the enlargement 
reaches the foot of the chest, where the ribs end, and an 
increase of breadth is noticeable. At the close of the ninth 
month, instead of being higher, there is a depression, the 
whole being carried down to the umbilical region. The 
infant's head, being heavier at this period, rests in the 
pelvis. 




Impregnated Uterus at Six 
Months. 



136 



FEMINOLOGY. 



Duration of Pregnancy. — As with almost every func- 
tion of life, the duration of pregnancy is subject to varia- 
tions; 40 weeks, or 280 days, is the approximate length of 




Natural Position of the Child at Nine Months. 

time. If birth occurs more than two weeks short of this 
period, the infant will show some indication of premature 
delivery. It is not uncommon that gestation is prolonged 
beyond 40 weeks ; in rare cases, has reached a period of 45 
weeks. 



PREGNANCY. 137 

When the date of impregnation is not known, the pro- 
spective mother can reckon with tolerable accuracy that 
delivery will occur 280 days after the close of her last men- 
strual period, or four and half to five months after quick- 
ening. When impregnation takes place before the monthly 
flow, that period will produce a flow much diminished in 
quantity and duration. 

Women have become pregnant while nursing, and conse- 
quently put out of their reckoning. The count must then 
be computed from the time of quickening, but it cannot be 
so accurate as when reckoned from the last day of the 
menses. A well-known writer has prepared a table for the 
use of prospective mothers who do not know the date of 
impregnation. The table allows three days over the 280, 
which, he says, may be safely relied upon, giving as reason 
that conception is more likely to take place three days after 
the last day of the period than at any other time. On this 
basis of reckoning any pregnant woman can readily con- 
struct her own table. For instance, if the last day of 
menstruation occurred January 18, labor could be expected 
on, or about, October 28. Or if the menses ceased July 
14, labor would occur on, or about, April 23. 

Disorders of Pregnancy. — The earliest disorder notice- 
able is nausea, or " morning sickness," which is unlike any 
other sickness at the stomach, and occurs in the early stages 
of pregnancy. It may begin the day following conception, 
or not till the sixth or eighth week. 

The cause of nausea is an irritation of the uterus, 



1 38 FEMINOLOGY. 

which, at the time of conception, was not in a state of 
health. Both the uterus and stomach are abundantly sup- 
plied with nerves. In a disordered condition, the womb 
does not take kindly to the new function, and sympa- 
thetic nerves convey the feeling to the stomach, causing 
morning sickness. The most common form observed is 
a feeling of sickness on arising in the morning, which 
results in retching and vomiting. Some women can con- 
trol the feeling, so that it passes off in two or three min- 
utes, without either retching or vomiting, although the 
feeling of sickness may be present every morning, until 
quickening. In many, the sense of sickness is so severe, 
and the straining and vomiting so intense, as to make them 
ill. In such case, the prospective mother may benefit 
herself by drinking a glass of water as hot as may be; 
if preferred, the juice of a lemon may be added to the 
water, with good results. But — 

The lady must be assisted in effecting a normal state 
of health by her husband. Her sexual feelings must not 
be aroused. The habit of indulging frequently in inter- 
course, during pregnancy, is one strong influence inducing 
violent morning sickness. The delicate state of the uterus 
is irritated by the unwarranted intrusion. Sexual excite- 
ment, causing an abnormal accumulation of blood in the 
generative tract, is a frequent source of miscarriage in 
delicate women. All the forces of the mother system 
should be conserved for the upbuilding of her own strength, 
and that of the child through hers. 

An old saying affirms that a sick pregnancy insures 



PREGNANCY. 139 

a safe delivery. But, as the sickness is purely a sympa- 
thetic condition, it is no guarantee of safety in itself. The 
surest way to safe delivery is to make every available 
effort to promote health, by right living, through proper 
diet, clothing, baths, and chastity in the sexual relation. 

Excessive secretion of saliva is an annoying affec- 
tion by which expectant mothers are often made uncom- 
fortable. This occurs in the earlier months of gestation, 
and is often so excessive as to affect the health. This 
should not be allowed to occur. It is an indication of 
indigestion, which will disappear when the proper diet for 
a pregnant woman is established. To drink a glass of 
hot water before eating will assist in correcting the evil. 

Biliousness, constipation, diarrhea, headache, heart- 
burn, flatulence, and colic are largely caused by imper- 
fectly performed functions of digestion. 

An attack of biliousness may be overcome by attention 
to diet. Butter, gravy, pastries, sweets, and fats must 
be let alone. The appetite should not be crowded in any 
case. When the pregnant woman does not crave food, 
she should not be persuaded to take it. Pampering the 
appetite is a pernicious habit, in any state. The more a 
capricious craving is catered to, the more it demands. A 
delicate woman may take her place at table, but not be 
pleased with any food before her. So, instead of worrying 
to know what she can eat, it is by far the best to wait 
until a healthy hunger makes her ready to accept any of 
the wholesome simples suitable to her condition. She her- 
self should know this, and not, like a child, fret and whine, 



140 FEMIN0L0GY. 

because a morbid craving is not satisfied. The querulous, 
fretful pregnant woman will surely bear an uneasy, un- 
happy, restless babe. 

Uncomfortable clothing about the trunk interferes with 
digestion at any time, and more so during pregnancy. 
Normal action of the liver, and other organs, is restricted 
by pressure from tight (by some ladies, called neat) 
clothing, inducing biliousness. 

Lack of exercise also causes indigestion. But the chief 
cause is that more food is taken into the digestive system 
than can be used, or that it is too abundant in carbonaceous 
material — too rich. All that can be used is taken to the 
blood, while the remainder is passed into the excrement. 
A constant overtaxing of the digestive system weakens 
it; and where more fuel is turned into the blood than is 
needed, or can be stored in the adipose tissues, it makes 
its way to the surface of the body in the form of erup- 
tions. Overfeeding is a serious evil, and one that many 
pregnant women have to fight against. There is an ever- 
present desire for food, that feeding does not cure. The 
afflicted one who yields to this morbid craving does her- 
self injury, and paves the way to an agonizing childbirth. 
The infant grows to an abnormal size under the stuffing 
process, and perfect delivery is often prevented thereby. 
Many a mother, who would otherwise have had a living 
child delivered into her arms, has been mercilessly grieved 
that her infant must be dismembered in the womb before 
relief could come to her. 

This morbid craving must be overcome. Under a 



PREGNANCY. 141 

natural, healthful diet, the system is nourished in all nec- 
essary elements. So, when a sense of hunger manifests 
itself, instead of eating more, it will be well to drink a 
glass of water or lemonade, and divert the mind to some 
useful and interesting employment, and away from appe- 
tite. Take a brisk walk in the open air. Call to see a 
congenial friend. Exercise the will to overcome, and suc- 
cess is won at last. 

Constipation is very apt to be present in all stages of 
pregnancy, and is, in a measure, caused by pressure of 
the enlarged womb upon the lower bowel. Tight clothing 
is again responsible for deranged action, assisted in the 
work of destruction, by improper food, lack of exercise, 
and fresh air. In a torpid condition of the bowels, the 
fecal matter, which should be thrown out, becomes 
reabsorbed into the system, acting as poison. Nature so 
arranged it that when one organ is impaired, those related 
assume its work. So, in constipation, other organs of 
elimination attempt to overcome the obstruction. The 
urine becomes highly colored and offensive; the lungs 
breathe out double impurity, which extra burden induces 
catarrh, bronchitis, etc.; the skin emits offensive odors; 
and, if it, too, is in a neglected condition, again are the 
lungs called upon to expel bodily impurity. Breathing 
happens to be a subconscious action. No doubt it would 
be neglected also, if that were entirely possible. 

In correcting the disorder, it is necessary to remove 
the cause. If closely confined indoors, change the condi- 
tion, by making it a part of the day's work to go out and 



142 FEMINOLOGY. 

breathe. If there is a lack of bodily exercise, invent some. 
The pregnant woman often feels unwieldy, and disinclined 
to physical exercise, especially in the latter months, but 
should not allow herself to give up to it. 

The only means by which constipation can be cured, 
are exercise, pure air, plenty of pure water, properly 
selected food carefully masticated, and regularity in going 
to stool. 

Never use cathartics. The relief from the evil is only 
temporary, and natural passages are harder to establish. 
All laxative medicines only stimulate the secretions of 
the bowels to an increased flow; and, as all stimulation 
is followed by depression, the torpor becomes worse. In 
preference to drugs, an enema of warm water is far 
better to obtain temporary relief. A fountain syringe 
should belong to every family; one that will contain three 
or four quarts of water, being the most acceptable. For 
the effectual cleansing of the lower bowel, plenty of warm 
soft water, with a little soap added, should be used. The 
reservoir of the syringe should be suspended above the 
bed as high as the hose will allow, to give greater force 
to the stream. A long rectal tube should be used, one 
that will enter four or five inches beyond the anus. Lying 
upon the bed, the tube may be introduced, and as the 
water passes, the bowels may be gently pinched and 
kneaded by the hands. Effete matter often adheres to the 
walls of the colon, which the massage will loosen. The 
water should be retained for some minutes; then, after 
a free evacuation, the syringe reservoir should again be 



PREGNANCY. 1 43 

filled, and, in the reclining position, enough water passed 
into the colon to fill it. A great deal will pass into the 
small intestine, where it will be carried to the liver, thus 
increasing the flow of bile, and causing several free evacua- 
tions the following day. When the water is retained from 
twenty minutes to a half hour, it may be evacuated. 

If this treatment is taken at night, a most restful and 
refreshing sleep will follow. 

Among the laxative foods, may be mentioned figs, 
prunes, apples, lemons, bananas, rhubarb, onions, celery, 
tomatoes, corn, squash, cauliflower, peas, beets, graham 
bread, cracked wheat, oysters, liver, wild game. All dried, 
smoked, or salt meats are constipating, as also are tea, 
coffee, cocoa, cake, cheese, potatoes, starch, rice, rasp- 
berries, blackberries, hot bread, and pastries. 

Hemorrhoids, or piles, are often the cause of discom- 
fort during pregnancy, appearing often at an early stage, 
and continuing more or less throughout the whole course. 
Of all causes tending to produce this disorder, constipation 
is the most frequent. Hence the importance of prevention, 
by keeping the bowels in proper condition. When an attack 
comes, the best means of relief are the hip-bath, or sitz-bath, 
an enema of hot water to cleanse the colon, and to live on 
liquid food for a few days; such as gruel, or broth, and 
drink hot water and lemonade. 

Heart-burn is a frequent, distressing complaint, usu- 
ally commencing immediately after impregnation. It is 
acidity of the stomach, arising from fermentation of undi- 
gested food. When at table, it will be well to avoid a 



FEMIXOLOGY. 

variety of food, partaking only of that most easily assimi- 
lated. The use of an alkali (as soda. lime, or magnesia) 
as a corrective, is to be discouraged, as it will injure the 
mucous lining of the stomach. Better allow the stomach 
to be emptied (by vomiting). a::d eat sparingly thereafter. 

Diarrhea is not of frequent occurrence in pregnancy. 
and it is net a disorder that need cause worry, unless long 
continued. The relaxation of the bowels is frequently 
owing to their having bee:: constipated, and the system 
is trying to relieve itself of matter that has too long been 
retained, or that is offensive to it. If it should become 
troublesome, causing straining or bearing down, an enema 
of hot water, used as often as there is desire for evacua- 
tion, will assist in bringing away the impurity, and induce 
relief. In this as in other disorders of digestion, care 
should be used as to diet. 

Flatulence arises from imperfect digestion. Food fer- 
ments in the small intestines, tilling the stomach and bowels 
with gas. It is offensive and uncomfortable, by crowd- 
ing other organs, sometimes even interfering with the 
heart's action. To obtain relief from the smothered and 
faint sensation when the heart is crowded, bathe the 
stomach with as net water as can be borne, kneading and 
rubbing upward until the gas arises, and is voided through 
the mouth. If there is difficulty in voiding the gas. a few 
drops of essence of peppermint swallowed in hot water 
will assist in bringing relief. Potatoes, cabbage, and beans 
induce flatulence: also cornmeal. oatmeal, and cracked 
wheat, when underdone. 



PREGNANCY. 145 

Loss of appetite occasionally afflicts an expectant 
mother; and her friends will insist that she must be ill, 
as she does not eat. But let her thoroughly understand 
that if she is not constipated or not suffering from nausea, 
mother Nature is simply trying to restore normal condi- 
tions. If there is faintness, a cup of coffee or gruel will 
relieve. Otherwise, wait for an appetite, and it will come 
after a short fast. 

Some ladies, while pregnant, suffer from headache, 
neuralgia, sleeplessness, cramps, varicose veins, and numer- 
ous other afflictions, that will give way under common- 
sense diet, proper clothing, baths, and exercise or rest, as 
the sufferer needs. 

Neuralgia is a maddening affliction, coming often from 
a decayed tooth; and often from nervous exhaustion and 
errors in diet and baths. A full, hot bath inducing free 
perspiration is beneficial, opening the pores of the skin, clear- 
ing away obstruction. Hot applications to the affected 
parts are soothing ; as, for instance, in facial neuralgia, to 
use the hot-water bag, half filled, to the face, while friction 
or hot applications are used to the feet. 

The unfortunate wife of an inconsiderate, incontinent 
husband, who is constantly surfeited and suffering from 
sexual demands, is she who is most liable to the disorders 
of pregnancy. 

The mother of three children, who was the wife of 

a rouS and profligate, attested that parturition with her was 

always painless, and pregnancy free from illness, because 

the husband always " went ' somewhere else ' for grotifica- 

10 



1 46 FEMINOLOGY. 

tion," when he discovered the wife's condition. This is 
a lesson learned from sorry circumstances; but he who 
demands the surrender of his wife's body during preg- 
nancy cannot be placed above the rout and profligate, who 
left his wife " alone." 

Acton, the celebrated English physiologist, says, " We 
well know it as a fact that the female animal will not 
allow the dog or stallion to approach her, except at par- 
ticular seasons. In many a human female, indeed, I 
believe, it is rather from the wish of pleasing or gratifying 
the husband than from any strong sexual feeling, that 
cohabitation is so habitually allowed. Certainly during 
the months of gestation, this holds good. I have known 
instances where the female evinced positive loathing for 
any marital familiarity whatever. In some exceptional 
cases, indeed, feeling has been sacrificed, and the wife 
endured, with all the self-martyrdom of womanhood, what 
was almost worse than death." 

Pruritis, or itching of external generative organs, is 
frequently an annoyance in the latter months of preg- 
nancy. Cleansing that part of the body at least twice a 
day with water and carbolic soap, or saleratus, will allay, 
and in time remove, the trouble, other hygienic recom- 
mendations being used, as before mentioned. 

Development, from Conception to Birth. — Gestation 
commences from the moment of union of the ovum and 
spermatozoon ; it is then a combination of the germ-cell and 
sperm-cell, and called the embryonic cell. 



PREGNANCY. 



147 



When the spermatozoa penetrate the outer membrane 
of the egg, the yolk contracts, leaving an interspace filled 
with transparent fluid. The yolk then begins a rotary 
motion, aided by the cilia that line its inner surface. In 
this revolving movement, the yolk becomes divided, first 
into two equal divisions, then four, then sixteen, and so 
continues in geometrical progession, until the yolk is broken 




Graafian Follicle. 

1, ovum; 2, 3, membranes of the fol- 
licle ; 4, its vessels; 6, cavity containing fluid 
in which is suspended the ovum; 7, external 
covering of the ovary. 



Ovum and Embryo. 

The term embryo is applied to the 
product of conception up to the third month, 
after which time the term fetus should be 
substituted. 



up in fine granular masses. When the segments become 
so numerous they crowd each other, they are united by 
their adjacent edges, forming a continuous membrane. 
According to Dr. Pancoast, impregnation and segmenta- 
tion take place in the passage through the Fallopian tubes. 
Before the embryo enters the uterus, it is 
covered by a deposit of albumen, on the 

outer surface of which are developed hair- 
Embryo of twelve 

days laid open, show- like projections, called villi. These tiny pro- 

ing villi on the outer 

surface. jections are channels through which nour- 




148 



FEMINOLOGY. 




ishment is received, until a more perfect means can be estab- 
lished. The covering is called the chorion. 

After conception, 
the uterus undergoes 
changes for the re- 
ception of the em- 
bryo. The glands, or 
follicles, penetrating 
the lining membrane 
of the womb, pour 
out a secretion that 
fills the cavity of the 
uterus. Into this se- 
cretion the embryo is 

Human Embryo at the Third Week Show- embedded, the tiny 

ing Villi Covering the Entire Chorion. . ir . . „,—..- 

villi receiving nour- 
ishment from the secretion, or direct from the fol- 
licles. 

As the embryo grows, the tufts, or villi, greatly develop 
at one point, and disappear elsewhere: thus forming the 
placenta, about the second month. At full term, the pla- 
centa is from six to eight inches in diameter, and from 
two to three inches thick at the center. It is circular in 
shape, having two flattened surfaces; one side adheres 
tightly to some portion of the inner surface of the womb, 
the little absorbent vessels drawing oxygen and nourish- 
ment from the circulation of the mother. On the fetal 
side of the placenta, the vessels unite into two arteries 
and one vein, which, with their covering, form the umbil- 



PREGNANCY. 



149 



ical cord. The vein 
here carries the pure 
blood, and the arter- 
ies the impure. 

The embryo be- 
comes the fetus after 
the fourth month, as 
the fetus becomes 
the child at birth. 

About the four- 
teenth day, the em- 
bryo is large enough 
to be visible to the 
naked eye. On the 
twenty-first day, it 





Embryo of Seventh Week. 

a, a, a, chorion; b, villiosities of placenta, 
c, c, amnion ; d, head of embryo ; e, e, temples; 
f, interval between eyes or root of nose; h, the arms; 
i, the abdomen; k, the sexual organs; 1,1, umbil- 
ical cord ; m, the internal portion of cord. 



S 4 

Embryo of Thirty Days. 

a, Head of embryo: b, the eyes; c, the mouth; 
d, the neck; e, the thorax; f, the abdomen; g, the 
extremity of spine; h, h, the spinal arch; 1, neck of 
umbilical vesicle ; k, the vesicle. 



resembles an ant in 
size, and the begin- 
nings of the spinal col- 
umn, heart, brain, etc., 
are noticeable. The 
thirtieth day the em- 
bryo is as large as a 
horsefly, and resembles 
a worm bent together. 
When straightened, it 
is nearly a half inch 
long ; the head is larger 
than the rest of the 
body. Toward the 



i5o 



FEMIN0L0GY. 



fifth week, the head has increased greatly in proportion to 
the remainder of the body, and rudimentary eyes are indi- 
cated. 

In the seventh week, narrow streaks on each side the 
spine show the beginnings of ribs; the heart is perfecting 
its form; the brain is enlarged; limbs are sprouting; and 
sex organs being evolved, although the sex is not deter- 
mined till later. It is about three fourths of an inch in 
length. 





Embryo at Two 
Months. 

At two months, 
the distinction of sex 
is yet difficult; eyes 
prominent, but no 
lids; nose shapeless, 
but nostrils distinct; 
mouth gaping; head 
forming more than 
one third of the 
whole body. At the 

end of three months, the eyelids are distinct, but closed; 
the lips drawn together; the forehead and nose clearly 
traceable; sex organs prominent. The heart beats with 



Embryo at Three Months. 



PREGNANCY. 



I5i 



force ; circulation is begun ; muscles begin to be developed ; 
fingers and toes are well defined. The length is four or 
five inches, and weight, two to four ounces. 

The fourth month, the muscles produce sensible motion, 
and the mother's consciousness of it is known as quicken- 
ing. The body is from six to eight inches long, and weighs 
from seven to eight ounces. 




Auvard's Couveuse (Incubator) — Fullerton. 

It is claimed that by means of the incubator, a child, born six months after conception, 
may be rendered capable of living. The child should not be removed from the couveuse 
except for its bath, toilet, and feeding. Great care is required to maintain an even tempera, 
ture, which should be from 70 F. to 75 F. Drafts should be avoided. The air of the 
compartment is moistened by means of wet sponges suspended at the side of the compartment. 

At six months, hair appears on the head, eyebrows, and 
eyelids; the length is increased to eleven or twelve inches; 
the weight to about one pound. 

At seven months, the bony system is nearly completed, 
and every part increased in volume and perfection. This 
is thought to be the earliest period at which the child will 
live, if expelled from the womb. 



152 FEMINOLOGY. 

From this period up to delivery, nature is putting on 
the finishing touches, and, just at this time, may be won- 




Fetus and Membranes at Fifth Month. 

derfully assisted by the conscious efforts of the mother, 
as outlined in Chapter V. 

The fetus lies curved within the bag of membranes, 
immersed in the liquor amnion (secreted by the amnion 
membrane, the inner membrane). The head is somewhat 



PREGNANCY. 



153 



flexed, the chin resting on the breast; the feet are bent 
upward in front of the legs; the legs flexed at the thighs; 
the knees are apart, but the heels close together; the arms 
are folded across the chest. Thus folded on itself, the 
child forms an oval about eleven inches in diameter. 

It is sometimes stated that 
a child born at eight months 
is less liable to live than one 
born at seven months. It is 
not true; a child at eight 
months is more nearly perfect 
than one at seven, and there- 
fore better fitted for inde- 
pendent life. 

At nine months, the fetus, 
as such, has reached maturity, 
and is now ready to begin an 
existence separate from the 
mother. Born at full term, the healthy infant is firm and 
plump. If the expectant mother has consumed large quan- 
tities of food, in the belief that she must eat everything a 
morbid appetite " craves," the babe will be abnormally large, 
and she will have have a correspondingly difficult labor. 

The skin of the newborn is very pink, the mother having 
given of her purest (oxygenized) blood for its sustenance. 
It converts to its own use the rich red corpuscles of the 
mother, because, being unable to breathe, it is consequently 
unable to purify its own blood. This, in part, accounts 
for the pallor of the prospective mother during pregnancy. 




Fetus and Surroundings at 
Seventh Month. 



154 • FEMINOLOGY. 

Immediately following a difficult labor and for some 
weeks thereafter, a spot resembling a bruise may be noticed 
on some part of the child's body, becoming especially promi- 
nent when the child cries. In case of face presentation, 
the mother is often alarmed at the bruised appearance of 
some portion of the child's face, thinking it has suffered 
injury during parturition. The discoloration is identical 
with the part that first presents, and is due to long-con- 
tinued pressure on the body of the fetus, during the ex- 
pulsive efforts of the uterus, and consequent congestion 
of the part free from pressure — the part presenting. 

Twins, in utero, may be separated by a partition mem- 
brane, each occupying a compartment of its own ; also, there 
may be two placentae. 

To the mother is usually accredited the praise or blame 
of conception of more than one child. This may be true 
in some instances, but not in all, however. A case is known 
to the writer of a gentleman, twice married, both of whose 
wives gave birth to twins and triplets. This had never 
before happened in the families of either wife, but had 
occurred in his own, he being one of twins. 

Rare instances of birth of triplets and quadruplets occur, 
one or more of the infants usually succumbing to deficient 
vitality. Recently, however, triplets and quadruplets were 
born to two mothers, both of Illinois, and all are healthy, 
strong children. 

Gestation outside the womb (ectopic) sometimes takes 
place. This is due to conception taking place so near the 
free extremity of the Fallopian tube that the Umbrae either 



,'i 




' 



FETUS AT NINE MONTHS. 



PREGNANCY. 155 

lose their grasp of the ovum, or the impregnated ovum 
finding lodgment near the extremity of the tube, grows 
until the tube ruptures, and the ovum is precipitated into 
the abdominal cavity. Here the embryo may develop, as 
in the uterus, until the fifth or sixth month, the placenta 
attaching to the intestines or to the pelvic wall. Abdom- 
inal pregnancy is difficult to diagnose from tumor, and if 
not early removed by surgical interference, death of the 
mother results. 

The newborn usually heralds his advent by a lusty cry. 
Some children, however, fail to catch the " breath of life/' 
when ushered into the new world, and it is only by per- 
sistent effort that suspended animation is overcome. The 
cord should not only not be severed until the child breathes, 
but should be covered by warm woolens, that the pulsation 
be ween mother and child shall not cease. A sharp blow 
on the buttocks, with the palm of the hand, may cause 
inspiration; a few drops of cold water thrown forcibly on 
the face and chest; or immersing in a bowl of warm water 
and blowing in the mouth, after clearing away the mucus, 
may induce respiration. Schultze's method, illustrated on 
page 200, has been successful when all others failed. This 
consists in catching the child by the shoulders, thumbs in 
front, raising the child, with a swinging motion, and allow- 
ing the feet to fall over the chest. Performed rhythmically, 
with no greater frequency, per minute, than a child breathes, 
the lungs will finally respond, and the child, with a sharp, 
quick inspiration, gasps for breath. 



FEMINOLOGY. 




Fetal Surface of the Placenta. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EASY LABOR. 

When gestation is completed, the uterus begins con- 
traction, and presses out its contents by way of the vagina, 
the process being termed labor, or parturition. This is 
as natural as that a tree sheds its fruit when ripe. It is 
usually attended with more or less pain, and is often a 
severe trial upon the mother's strength and powers of 
endurance. If she take a reasonable degree of care, gen- 
eral health may be improved, and weaknesses and ills 
ameliorated or removed entirely; while the pain and dan- 
gers of childbirth will be reduced to a minimum, and 
after disorders cannot occur. 

Childbirth ought to be free from suffering. When 
it is not, there is transgression of some natural law. 
Civilization ought to make this common, but natural 
occurrence one of as much ease and dispatch as it is in 
savage life, and more. Civilization should not be the 
artificial life, and savagery the natural life, among women. 
Civilization means advancement in knozvledge, in refine- 
ment, in the arts, in general progress; yet it is very, very 
slow in taking hold to remove the obstructions to perfect 
motherhood. In fact, the so-called art of dressing among 
womankind — especially those midway between the truly 
intelligent and the hard-pressed by toil — has contrived 

i57 



158 FEMINOLOGY. 

to so hamper the body as to render it unfit for maternity. 
This does not indicate advancement in knowledge, or gen- 
eral progress. The art is tortured entirely out of its original 
meaning. 

Professor Huxley, the English scientist, says, " We 
are, indeed, fully prepared to believe that the bearing of 
children may and ought to become as free from danger and 
long debility, to the civilized woman as to the savage." 

Lewis and Clarke, the Western explorers, mention " one 
of the squaws who had been leading two of our pack- 
horses, halted at a rivulet about a mile behind to lie-in; 
and after about an hour, overtook and passed us, with her 
newborn infant, apparently in perfect health." 

Our own Mrs. Stanton, an example of the highest type 
of advancement among civilized women, in a lecture to 
ladies, stated, " I am the mother of seven children. My 
girlhood was spent mostly in the open air. I early imbibed 
the idea that a girl is just as good as a boy, and I carried 
it out. I would walk five miles before breakfast, or ride 
ten on horseback. After I was married, I wore my cloth- 
ing sensibly. The weight hung entirely on my shoulders. 
I never compressed my body out of its natural shape. When 
my first four children were born, I suffered very little. 
I then made up my mind that it was totally unnecessary 
for me to suffer at all; so I dressed lightly, walked every 
day, lived as much as possible in the open air, ate no 
condiments, and took proper care of myself. The night 
before the birth of the next child, I walked three miles. 
The child was born without a particle of pain. I bathed 



EASY LABOR. 159 

it and dressed it myself, and it weighed ten and one-half 
pounds. The same day I dined with the family." 

Between the illiterate squaw and the intelligent Mrs. 
Stanton, are all intermediate shades of civilization and sav- 
agery intermingled. But the woman who seeks the best 
good of her offspring, whose soul constantly inquires for 
every available means to perfect her womanhood, will 
combine, as did Mrs. Stanton, the free natural life with 
intellectual balance afforded by civilization. 

Dr. Holbrook, in his treatment of painless childbirth, 
says, " These women of savage nations who bear children 
without pain, live much in the open air, take much exer- 
cise, and are physically active and healthy to a degree 
greatly beyond their more civilized sisters. These instances 
tend directly to prove that parturition is likely to be pain- 
less in proportion as the mother is physically perfect and 
in a sound condition of health. They certainly tend even 
more strongly to prove that pain is not an absolute neces- 
sity attendant on parturition. 

" The course of modern scientific investigation, more- 
over, has gone far to justify a belief that this terrific burden 
upon humanity can be almost entirely removed, and that 
the pain can be as completely done away with as the danger 
and disfigurement from smallpox. 

" At the same time, this immeasurable benefit to human- 
ity cannot be obtained without proper use of means, and the 
continuance of such use for a considerable period." 

It is of the proper means, this chapter will endeavor 
to impress its readers. 



160 FEMINOLOGY. 

The lot of every woman does not fall into the place 
where she is given advantage of the laws of health from 
birth. Many are born into homes that are unhealthy, live 
in illy ventilated, poorly lighted rooms, and eat unwhole- 
some food. So that the chances for perfect development 
are stunted in the beginning. Others are born into better 
material surroundings, but because they are girls, are 
repressed, kept from activity, and hampered by tight clothes 
until they are unfitted for a complete life. However, it is 
true that she who has sufficient vitality to make conception 
possible, can, by attention to the proper means, relieve preg- 
nancy of suffering to a great extent, and lessen, or remove 
entirely, the pain of childbirth. 

Clothing. — The ordinary dress of the average woman 
does not give her opportunity to enjoy the freedom to be 
had in life. There would need be little change for the con- 
dition of pregnancy, if the everyday dress did not interfere 
with the functions of the body. 

Complete dress, in our climate, seems to consist (in 
winter, at least) of vest, and drawers with a close band; 
stockings, held up by elastic bands above or below the 
knee ; muslin drawers, with another tight band ; a chemise ; 
a corset, that may be worn tight, or comfortable ( ?) ; a 
corset cover, fitting snugly; one or more petticoats, with 
as many more tight bands; and the outside dress, whose 
skirt hangs by another band about the waist, and whose 
bodice must fit over all that is below, without crease or 
wrinkle. Is it any wonder there is disease and suffering? 



EASY LABOR. 161 

that headaches, backaches, nervousness, dyspepsia, exist? 
The vital organs are so crowded, the natural functions 
cannot be performed. Chinese feet and flat-head Indians 
are not more to be condemned than the compressed trunks 
of the Caucasian women. The lungs, liver and stomach 
cannot fully act under even a " comfortable " pressure of 
corset; while the abdominal viscera is so crowded by the 
corset and weight of skirts, that disease must result in time. 

Occasionally, an example is called to mind, by con- 
servatives, of women who have reached advanced years, 
and who have been corseted all their lives, to prove that 
the habit is not injurious. A parallel is to be found in 
those men who point with pride to aged specimens of their 
sex, who have used tobacco and alcohol all their lives, 
and are not dead. Does it prove that the tobacco and 
alcohol habits are not evil, in the face of thousands of 
cases of wrecked manhood from these causes? And does 
one corseted follower of the fickle goddess, because she 
has reached advanced years, prove that it is not injurious 
to* compress the vital organs, and trammel the free move- 
ment of the body by tight clothing? Rather, it goes to 
prove how much misuse a strong physique can endure; 
and to accent the pity that those who have gone through 
the evils, and live, had not used their powerful strength 
in some useful way. 

The first condition to be complied with by the preg- 
nant woman who craves easy labor, is to make a complete 
change in raiment, if she is a follower of custom. The 
vest and drawers, for warmth, must be exchanged for the 



1 62 FEMINOLOGY. 

union undergarment, which eliminates the band, and the 
extra heat caused by the lower part of the vest. A size 
larger than is ordinarily worn will give room for the 
enlargement of the uterus. 

Or, if the vest and drawers are in a good state of 
preservation, it will do to combine them. This may be 
done by ripping the band from the drawers, and severing 
the extra length from the vest. They should be tried on 
before the scissors are used, that the adjustment may be 
comfortably made. In them the freedom of bodily move- 
ment is unhindered. If the demands of the climate make 
lighter underwear necessary, the gauze undergarments may 
be treated likewise. 

The pregnant woman must wear just as few garments 
as is compatible with being completely and comfortably 
dressed. 

There is a combination garment, called the chemiloon, 
which, as its name indicates, is a union of the chemise 
and drawers. This may be made of linen or muslin and 
as dainty as any woman can wish, who loves frills and 
laces and embroideries. As the principal warmth should 
be in the union garment worn next the person, the chemi- 
loon is not a necessity, except that, on planning an out- 
door trip, this garment will add warmth. 

The petticoat may be made on a waist; but there is an 
article now manufactured and quite popular, called the 
breast support, to which skirts may be attached. Equal 
or greater comfort may be derived from this than from 
skirt-supporting waists. It is made with both skirt and 



EASY LABOR. 163 

hose-supporter attachments, is fitted together with safety- 
pins, so as to be adjustable to the individual figure. After 
adjusting, the safety pins can be removed, and stitches 
taken, to hold the parts in place. 

With the breast support, a light-weight dress skirt may 
also be attached, and a loose, pretty tea- jacket worn, or a 
princess wrapper, if not too close-fitting and heavy. 

The stockings are adjusted to the hose- 
supporter attachment. 

As to shoes, only common-sense shoes 

should be worn at all times. Shoes that 

are narrow, press upon nerves and blood 

vessels, and make the wearer thoroughly 

uncomfortable. If the soles are not so 

wide as the bottom of the foot, they afford improved Breast 

Support. 
insufficient protection. In pregnancy, an 

uncomfortable shoe will cause the feet to swell and 
pain; and all physical discomfort is to be avoided, if an 
easy labor is desired. A broad, low shoe may not happen 
to meet the dictates of fashion ; and at this point a woman 
must be competent to choose for herself. If Dame Fashion 
is of more consideration than her own babe, the devotee 
will probably follow. Heaven grant that the years to come 
will develop zvomen, rather than fashion-worshipers. 

In this system of dress, the weight of the clothing is 
distributed over the body, or suspended from the shoul- 
ders. The trunk of the body is relieved from pressure, 
giving the muscles room for free exercise, the lungs room 
for expansion; the enlargement of the uterus is not inter- 




1 64 FEMINOLOGY. 

fered with, and the greatest protection is afforded, with the 
lightest weight. 

The term " enceinte " was originally applied to pregnant 
women, from the fact that the girdles they were accus- 
tomed to wear, were then laid aside; enceinte meaning 
ungirdled, or unbound, later came to mean, with child. 

The natural woman will not feel that her condition 
demands seclusion. She needs the elevating influence to 
be gained from attending lectures, church service, the 
plays, and concerts, as means of breaking the sameness of 
daily life, as well as stimulating mental activity. The only 
caution is not to overdo; as the crowded condition of 
theaters, halls, and churches do not offer the best breath- 
ing places to be had. 

Morbid sensibility as to her unusual appearance will 
not influence the true woman in her quest for that which 
will improve her health and mind and spirit, and the child, 
through her. She has the sincere approval of her own 
soul, and knows she is in harmony with all things divine. 

Deep Breathing. — The value of full, deep respiration 
for the pregnant woman cannot be overestimated. She 
must purify, not only the blood for her own system, but 
also throw out through her bodily functions, the effete 
matter that is generated in the growing infant. 

Dr. Trail says, " If the mother does not breathe suffi- 
ciently, the child must suffer. Many a mother gives birth 
to a frail, scrofulous child, for no reason, except that 
during the period of gestation, she is too sedentary and 



EASY LABOR. 165 

plethoric. I have known women of vigorous constitutions, 
who had given birth to several healthy children, become 
the mothers of children so puny and scrofulous, that it 
was impossible for them to be raised to an adult age. The 
reason is that the mother is obstructed in her respiratory 
system, and, although she may breathe enough to sustain 
her own organization in a fair condition, she does not 
inhale oxygen enough to supply the needs of an intra- 
uterine being. Many still-births are explainable on this 
principle." 

Nothing is more essential to health than that the blood 
be thoroughly purified in the lungs, and this can only 
be accomplished by breathing deeply of pure air. In 
Chapter II, ventilation of the home is treated. While 
this is necessary to health at all times, in pregnancy it 
must in no instance be forgotten. 

Knowing that she " breathes for two," the expectant 
mother should exert herself consciously to fill the lungs, 
and to do so each time her mind recurs to it, as she goes 
about her day's employment. 

With clothing regulated, that the body is free, it is 
not difficult to inhale and expel large quantities of air 
many times daily. Never breathe through the mouth, as 
dust and germs of disease are taken into the system in 
that way. 

In a person of average size, the number of air cells 
in the lungs is estimated at six hundred millions, or more, 
which represents an area of one thousand square feet of 
surface, through which the blood may be purified by full 



1 66 FEMINOLOGY. 

respiration. Where a tendency to lung disorder is inher- 
ited, deep breathing does not come naturally, and many 
of the air cells are never fully developed. 

An exercise for opening the air cells recommended by 
Edmund Shaftesbury, is as follows : " Take a piece of 
the stem of a pipe, and put it in the mouth; hold the nos- 
trils closed, and breathe out one second through the pipe 
stem, with gentle force. This restriction of the aperture 
of the mouth to the small dimensions of the hole in the 
pipe stem, will cause the compressed air of the lungs to 
find other means of escape, and in so doing, the air is 
forced into the unopened air cells. The next step must 
be to blow a little harder through the pipe stem, occupying 
two seconds in the exhalation. A full inhalation is taken 
through the nostrils, and blowing it out through the pipe 
stem. This may be practiced several times daily, with 
much benefit. 

Another exercise is to inflate the lungs, morning and 
evening, and, retaining the breath, gently tap the chest 
all over, with the open hands. 

When difficulty in getting a full, deep breath is experi- 
enced, it indicates that dead air is retained. To expel it, 
breathe out all the air possible, pressing the ribs at the 
front and sides while so doing; then take a quick, full 
breath, exhale it, and the impure air will be thrown out. 

An excellent method for conscious exertion in breath- 
ing, is to seek an easy position, such as resting in a rocker 
or on a couch, in a well-ventilated room; inhale slowly 
deeper and deeper, until no more can be contained, then 



EASY LABOR. 167 

as slowly expel the air. This may be continued from 
fifteen minutes to a half-hour. No other one exercise in 
breathing will be so acceptable, or more beneficial, to the 
pregnant woman; and the capacity for breathing will not 
decrease in the latter months, if this is persisted in. By 
placing the hands on the abdomen, the lady can discover 
whether her respiration is perfect, or not; if the abdomen 
rises and falls with a bellows-like movement, the respira- 
tion is correct. If only the ribs move, it is not; and the 
inhalations should be increased until waist breathing is 
established. Breathing slowly and calmly tends to do away 
with the rib respiration. Waist breathing is only possible 
where the body is unrestricted by corset or bands. 

One young mother, following out these principles during 
pregnancy, decided if freedom for the body induced healthy 
conditions at that time, it would afterward; and in con- 
sequence, laid aside her unhygienic garments, never to 
assume them again. It is to be hoped many more may 
meet an equal understanding of the laws of life, that 
womanhood may be made the more perfect. 

Bathing. — The skin is composed of two layers, the 
outer layer being tough, elastic, and without feeling, and 
is made up of numberless flat scales, arranged layer upon 
layer. The inner layer is freely supplied with nerves and 
blood vessels which furnish material for the constant for- 
mation of the cuticle, or outside layer. There is a constant 
wearing off of the scales forming the cuticle. In the hair 
it is noticed in the form of dandruff. 



1 68 FEMINOLOGY. 

In all parts of the body are perspiratory glands, whose 
numerous tubes open on the surface of the skin. Other 
glands, called sebaceous glands, are to be found where hairs 
grow; they are usually connected with the hair-bulbs, and 
secrete an oil that furnishes a natural dressing for both 
skin and hair. The function of the perspiratory glands 
is to assist the lungs in eliminating impurities from the 
blood, besides regulating the temperature of the body, by 
the watery fluid, in which the impurities are borne out. 

These facts, of course, are treated more extensively in 
the public schools ; but, like the corset habit, are overlooked 
in daily life. 

The point to be kept in mind is, that unless the per- 
spiratory glands are kept open, the blood carries the extra 
load of impurity to the lungs; in consequence, they are 
overtaxed, become weakened, and leave the poison in the 
system, to germinate disease. The oil from the sebaceous 
glands, scales from the cuticle, and impurity from the 
perspiratory glands constantly deposited at the mouth of 
the pores, soon clog them. These impurities must be 
removed by frequent applications of water. 

In warm weather, the impurities soon take on a rancid 
odor, making the person offensive, and bathing is resorted 
to that the odor be removed. In cooler weather, the amount 
of impurity deposited is equally great. So that the real 
necessity for the bath is the same, winter and summer. 

A very fleshy lady, or any person of full habits, can 
and should use water freely. While a thin and delicate 
person will not throw out so much impurity and should 



EASY LABOR. 169 

bathe less frequently. The daily bath should be made a 
part of the business of the day; to be taken when most 
convenient — always provided it is not directly after eating, 
and not in a cold room. The cold sponge bath, taken 
immediately upon rising, is refreshing and invigorating. 
It does not require but a few minutes — not longer than 
five. It consists simply of wetting the body with hand, or 
sponge, or wash cloth, and quickly drying the surface with 
gentle friction. The temperature of the room in which the 
bath is taken should not be lower than the temperature of 
the body, and there should always be a thorough reaction 
afterward. Proper care of the body after bathing is as 
necessary as the bath itself. No sensation of chilliness 
should linger; but, instead, a warm glow should pervade 
the whole body, else the bath defeats the very purpose 
for which it is taken — to open the pores of the skin. 

The customary habit of bathing is to wash the body 
with tepid water and soap once a week, and change the 
underwear. This should be kept up even after the daily 
sponge is established, as it cleanses the skin of oily matter. 

The sits bath is perhaps the most valuable that can be 
recommended for the pregnant woman, especially for the 
last two or three months. It relaxes the abdominal mus- 
cles, and those of the womb, and loosens the skin over the 
abdomen. The growth of the fetus sometimes causes a 
distressing soreness in the muscular walls of the abdo- 
men, and, not infrequently, the skin is cracked. This the 
sitz bath will entirely overcome. After the bath, rub the 
abdomen well with olive oil, vaseline, or cosmoline. 



i;o FEMIXOLOGY. 

The sitz bath pan is made with a rather shallow basin 
and tall back, against which support may be had while 
taking the bath. The bath simply consists in sitting in 
the water (which will cover the hips and abdomen) for 
about ten minutes; then rub dry with towel and hand; 
and rest. It should not be taken unless followed by a period 
of rest, or half the benefit is lost. The bath should be 
tepid, unless for some acute pain, when the heat should 
be increased as much as can be borne, and the feet also 
placed in another vessel of hot water. Meantime, the 
sufferer should be wrapped about with blankets, and remain 
fifteen or twenty minutes; then dried, put into a fresh 
bed-gown, and to bed. It is a rarely severe pain that will 
not yield to this pleasant treatment. A sitz-bath pan should 
be in every family, as it will pay for itself many times 
over in the saving of physicians' bills. The cost will hardly 
exceed five dollars any place. If the pan is not available, 
an ordinary tub, raised at one side, will serve. 

Many ladies who live in the larger towns and cities 
make use of the Turkish bath throughout gestation, as 
well as before and after. The establishments for such baths 
are well appointed, as a rule, and she who can afford the 
time necessary, is well repaid for what money she is out. 

The subject is first made to perspire freely in a room 
heated from 120 degrees (Fahrenheit) to 150 degrees. 
"Water may be taken copiously, either hot or cold, as pre- 
ferred. This assists in carrying out impurity. The next 
step is the shampoo, which is given in a cooler room, at 
about 90 degrees. The subject lies on a slab or table, 



EASY LABOR. 1 71 

while an attendant rubs the body vigorously with soap and 
water. This is followed by a plunge bath, or shower, or 
spray, after which the body is dried, and given a massage ; 
and the subject is left to rest. It requires from two to 
four hours to complete the bath. The body is thoroughly 
cleansed. The copious perspiration eliminates much 
impurity; the shampoo cleanses the surface; while the 
shower or plunge has a tonic effect. 

The massage consists of rubbing, kneading, and press- 
ing the flesh, which manipulation affects the muscles, nerves, 
and circulation. A Turkish bath twice a month, or once 
a week, is almost certain assurance of perfect, buoyant 
health. 

In the country and smaller towns, where no bath- 
rooms are established, there are vapor and hot-air baths, 
easily to be given at home, the chief apparatus needed 
being an alcohol lamp. The therapeutic effect is almost 
identical with the elaborate Turkish bath. 

For the vapor bath, an alcohol lamp, over which has 
been placed a small dish of water, is set upon the floor, 
in a convenient place. A cane-seat chair is placed over 
it, and the patient is seated therein; blankets or quilts are 
placed about her and the chair, that the heat and vapor 
shall not escape. If there is a rush of blood to the head, 
a wet napkin can be placed about the neck. After free 
perspiration has been induced, the patient should be rubbed 
with soft bath towels, and put to bed. 

The hot-air bath is taken in much the same manner, 
save that steam is not generated over the alcohol lamp. 



172 FEMINOLOGY. 

There should be a blanket folded and placed on the chair, 
to protect the body from extreme heat. When free per- 
spiration is produced (which will perhaps require from 
fifteen minutes to a half hour), the patient should be given 
a shampoo with tepid water and soap, and the entire body 
thoroughly manipulated. While among the blankets, hot 
or cold water may be taken to bring out the perspiration. 
A hot footbath at the same time greatly facilitates the 
action of the heat from the lamp. It is well to take the 
bath on retiring, but in any case it should be followed by 
an hour's rest and sleep. 

No bath will so cleanse the entire system as do these 
which cause the body to perspire freely. 

With a few suggestions as to the making, a convenient 
and economical alcohol lamp may be secured from any 
tinner. Instruct him to take a tin box, and place in it a 
tube suitable for holding an ordinary wick. A ring should 
be set two inches above the wick-tube, to rest the water 
dish upon. With a handle added for convenience in car- 
rying, a most useful little article is ready. 

Or a teacup containing the alcohol may be made to 
serve in the hot-air bath, one third of a cupful being enough 
to use for a single bath. 

The pregnant woman should choose which of these 
baths will be her bath through the expectant period, and 
adhere to it. The sitz bath seems to be the most popular. 

Exercise. — Pye Chavasse says, "A lady sometimes looks 
upon pregnancy more as a disease than as a natural process ; 



EASY LABOR. 173 

hence she treats herself as if she were a regular invalid, and 
unfortunately, she too often makes herself really one, by 
improper and foolish indulgences." 

The habit of indolence is deteriorating at any time, 
both body and mind becoming less and less capable under 
it. As naturally indolent women are ease-loving and pain- 
hating, it behooves them, while pregnant, to exercise, that 
labor be not severe and dangerous. 

Exercise in moderation is a necessity; and one very 
beneficial, and within the reach of all, is walking. 

Walking brings into play nearly all the muscles, and 
particularly those of the lower extremities. Deep breath- 
ing in connection will exercise the diaphragm and ab- 
dominal muscles. Manifold blessings are the result of an 
open-air excursion on foot. 

One accustomed to sedentary employment cannot, in 
the beginning, walk five miles before breakfast, as Mrs. 
Stanton did. Some muscles would be stiffened and made 
sore by the overdoing, if illness did not result. Only 
short distances should be attempted, until strength is devel- 
oped. Walk just enough to be made agreeably tired, and 
increase the distance little by little. 

For a woman accustomed to the control of a bicycle, 
that form of exercise is recommended to be kept up in 
the first half of pregnancy. The muscles of the arms, 
legs, and trunk are all well used; the circulation is accel- 
erated, and the exhilaration caused by passing quickly 
through space is a tonic. Edmund Shaftesbury, an author- 
ity on scientific exercise and deep breathing, in their relation 



i 74 FEMINOLOGY. 

to health, recommends exercise in the moving air. Said 
he, " Activity will cause the body to absorb oxygen ; 
whereas, a person standing still might inhale great drafts 
of oxygen, and yet the lungs will only absorb enough to 
carry on their ordinary functions. Therefore, if you desire 
to increase the vitality of the body to its utmost, take 
gentle exercise and the fullest possible respirations, in mov- 
ing air." 

The bicycle furnishes delightful action for the muscles 
and relaxation for the mind, and creates moving air. 

Questioning a bright, vivacious cyclist as to the effects 
of wheeling, brought out the following : "I'd advise cycling 
for nearly all women, if taken in moderate doses. Of 
course, like many other good things, it can be made harm- 
ful, if a little common sense is not used. A woman should 
judge her strength, and use it accordingly, but by no means 
abuse it. 

" If one wishes to ride easily, the clothes must not be 
tight. Then one must breathe properly, and not with 
just the upper part of the chest, as most women do. I 
think a woman will almost unconsciously use the dia- 
phragm in breathing, when riding; it makes wheeling so 
much easier and more pleasant. If she does not, she should 
consciously and conscientiously cultivate diaphragm action." 

In the latter months of pregnancy, walking will be pref- 
erable, as most women find themselves growing unwieldy 
from increase in size. Accidents in a gentle walk are of 
very rare occurrence; while in carriages or other vehicles, 
sudden jars often cause premature birth or harmful shocks. 



EASY LABOR. 175 

In housework, some portions are more preferable than 
others, to different women. If one is ordinarily strong, 
the washing is good exercise for one day of the week. 
The chest, arms, and back are put into quick, vigorous 
action; deep breathing is encouraged, circulation is quick- 
ened, and the entire body is thoroughly exercised. If the 
washing is large, it should not be attempted alone; but 
the assistant should not be given the engineering. 

The ordinary backache brought on by washing can 
be obviated by having the benches high enough that little 
bending is required. 

After the washing is out, the assistant should be left 
to scrub, and clear away, while the prospective mother has 
a sponge bath, a change of clothing throughout, and lies 
down to rest. This will furnish enough muscular activity 
for one day. Lifting heavy weights, and overreaching are 
to be avoided in this and all other exercises. 

If a lady prefers the daily routine of housework for 
exercise, she should not attempt the washing also. In any 
case, she must plan for at least an hour's rest, and to be 
outdoors thereafter as much as is possible. 

Overwork is more often the cause of agonizing labor, 
and dwarfed and puny childhood, than indolence. The 
strength should be conserved for the time of parturition, 
and health of the unborn considered before the small 
affairs of every day. Just enough exercise to displace the 
worn-out tissues, and sleep and rest enough to replace with 
fresh, new particles, will give vigor and elasticity. If 
sleep is prevented, if the lady becomes " too tired to sleep," 



176 FEMINOLOGY. 

as is the case too sadly often with the housewife, weak- 
ness and exhaustion are the result. 

At this point, the husband and father can show his 
capacity for the privileged position. It should be his con- 
cern that his companion does not weary and exhaust her- 
self, and, as far as possible, to remove all conditions and 
things tending to annoy, disturb, or irritate. 

Fowler's appeal to fathers contains this language: 
" Do you always accord that sympathizing affection the 
wife now often imploringly craves? . . . Quiet her nerves. 
Cheer up her drooping spirit. . . . Do with as little work 
as possible, and help her do that. Look after her health. 
See to it that she rests. Yet many a pregnant woman 
gets but little sympathy by day, or rest by night. She 
works up her strength on others. More dead than alive, 
and crushed in spirit, you often pursue your indulgence, 
regardless of how much you outrage her feelings. Yet 
how careful you are of your bearing mares. 

" If you had taken half the care of a bearing wife 
you took of a bearing mare, what superb children you 
would have raised, with your wife alive and well." 

Dr. Cowan quotes from a mother whose babes died 
in infancy, as follows : " I was married at the age of 
twenty-five, inheriting from my parents a vigorous con- 
stitution. My husband was four years my senior, and 
alike blessed with perfect health. But we started wrong, 
after all, for we both determined to be rich, let what would 
come. We occupied a large farm, and I, in my eagerness 
to amass wealth (which has been a canker to my happi- 



EASY LABOR. 177 

ness), would never employ help for a day, frequently doing 
all the labor for a family of twenty during the period of 
gestation." 

Many farmers, and other men, boast of the amount of 
physical labor their wives can accomplish single-handed; 
when, did they but know, it advertises their incompetency 
as prospective fathers, that they do not induce their con- 
nubial companion to see the value of rest. 

Said a farmer's wife, " I would have felt disgraced, 
in my younger days, to have been guilty of lying down in 
the daytime, whether in the family way or not." 

Gardening is an occupation that necessitates exercise 
very helpful to a pregnant woman, when not carried too 
far. It would be injurious to pursue in the heat, and to 
the point of exhaustion. A few hours' work in the morn- 
ing, and followed by a bath and rest, would give a goodly 
circulation and appetite, and be conducive to health. But 
few women, in proportion to the population, are in posi- 
tion to try the effects of this pleasant pursuit. 

Diet. — Although a woman " breathes for two," it is not 
necessary that she must " eat for two." The growth of an 
unborn babe is so gradual, in nine months, the average 
weight is only as many pounds. 

An expectant mother should not let her mind dwell 
too much upon what goes into her stomach ; it may develop 
gluttony in the babe. But she must know what foods will 
best nourish and sustain her, and furnish nutriment to the 
unborn; and will discard that which in any way is injurious, 
u 



1 78 FEMINOLOGY. 

There should be no abrupt change in the diet; but the 
mother-to-be can gradually omit all articles that are stimu- 
lating, or that induce feverish conditions. All the condi- 
ments, as pepper-sauces, catsup, spices, and flavorings 
should gradually be eliminated, as being of no food value. 
Fats and sweets cause and increase feverish conditions, and 
should be used sparingly. 

No more food should be taken into the stomach than 
can be digested; as overeating will surely bring on serious 
disorders. 

A thin lady should partake of the farinaceous foods, 
with cream, vegetables, nuts, and fruits. Unless she is 
very much in love with the meat habit, it should be avoided. 
If it is possible to partake freely of new milk or cream, by 
all means do so, and store away fuel for the drain of the 
strength that comes at parturition. 

Delicate persons and children are benefited by the use 
of cream and full milk in abundance, while butter in abun- 
dance is harmful. On this subject Dr. Bellows says, " So 
perfectly ignorant are people generally of the laws of 
nature, that they give their pigs the food which their chil- 
dren need to develop muscle and brain; and give their 
children what their pigs need to develop fat. For example, 
the farmer separates from milk the muscle-making and 
brain-feeding nitrates and phosphates, and gives them to 
his pigs in the form of buttermilk, while the fattening 
carbonates he gives to his children in butter. He sifts 
out the bran and outer crust from the wheat, which con- 
tains the nitrates and phosphates, and gives them also to 



EASY LABOR. 1 79 

his pigs and cattle, while the fine flour, containing little 
else than heating carbonates, he gives to his children. 
Cheese, which contains the concentrated nutriment of milk, 
is seldom seen on our tables, while butter, which contains 
not a particle of food for brain or muscle, is on every 
table at all times of day." 

Foods are not so often chosen in reference to the needs 
of the body as they are to cater to perverted appetites; 
that which is acceptable to capricious taste being usually 
preferred to that which will nourish and strengthen the 
body. If it were customary to use nourishing foods, there 
would be no need of special diet during pregnancy. 

A lady of full or fleshy form should not use farina- 
ceous or fat-producing foods, but, instead, use fruits 
freely, and those vegetables and cereals that nourish mus- 
cle and brain. She who is extraordinary in size from 
fat, will experience a more difficult labor than those who 
are more slender; and her infant, if not poor and feeble 
at birth, will become so from nursing the thin, blue milk 
generated by her. Extra flesh is burdensome at any time, 
and especially so in pregnancy. The Turkish, hot-air, and 
other baths that cause perspiration, should be freely used 
by the obese prospective mother. 

The experiment of the London chemist, Mr. Rowbotham, 
in 1 841, written out by him at that time, is approved by 
most authorities on painless labor, and also by the experi- 
ence of many women who carried out his theory. Mr. 
Rowbotham' s reasoning was that pain in childbirth was 
due to the bones of the infant being firm ; that the mother's 



180 FEMINOLOGY. 

blood is the source of the bony matter, and if her food and 
drink do not contain it, it cannot be deposited in the 
structure of the child. 

His wife had borne two children previous to the experi- 
ment ; had suffered extremely in parturition, and for months 
before. She was advanced seven months in pregnancy 
with the third, when, at her husband's earnest solicitation, 
she began the experiment. 

She began by eating an apple and an orange the first 
thing in the morning, and again at night. Gradually the 
quantity of fruit to be eaten was increased, and other food 
diminished, especially bread and pastries. Unpleasant 
disorders vanished, the lady's health became excellent, with 
scarcely an ache or pain up to the time of delivery. 

The change for the better in the health of Mrs. Raw- 
botham was, of course, as much responsible for her easy 
delivery, as that bone was slightly developed. The fruit 
diet tends to overcome all bilious and inflammatory con- 
ditions. Fruit of some kind should always be served at 
table, not only during pregnancy, but at all times. 

Some housewives insist that the dinner table is incom- 
plete without meat, that the body of the meal must be 
meat. Whereas, it should only be used occasionally, by 
way of variety, and the substance of the meal consist of 
vegetables, with fruit as an aid to digestion. The preg- 
nant woman should, as much as possible, do without cakes, 
puddings, bread, and pies, to prevent the bony structure 
of the unborn from being unyielding. If a splendid ani- 
mal like the horse and cow can thrive on hay and corn or 



EASY LABOR. 181 

oats, a human ought to sustain active mental and physical 
strength on a choice of all the fruits, grains, and vege- 
tables. Solid food should be well masticated, allowing 
the saliva to mix properly with the food; the chemical 
action of the saliva is to convert starchy substance into 
sugar. All liquids taken at mealtime must be absorbed, 
before digestion can begin. Although food may be swal- 
lowed the more easily, the work of digestion is retarded 
by liquids. Cheerfulness aids digestion, as, indeed, it does 
all the functions of life. 

Perhaps it is necessary to add that a prospective mother 
should avoid stimulants, as beer, wine, ale, whisky, and 
other alcoholics. They are in no wise beneficial to the 
system. They are often taken to relieve abnormal crav- 
ings; but the sensible woman will remove the cause pro- 
ducing abnormal conditions, rather than constantly pander 
to appetites produced thereby. 

Sleep. — A generous amount of sleep is conducive to the 
health of mother and unborn babe. A bath and early to 
bed is one of the very best prescriptions to be observed. 
Seldom should she be up after ten o'clock. " One hour's 
sleep before midnight is worth three after," is an old saying 
which is all true. 

But in the morning, no dozing. She should be up to 
inhale the refreshing and invigorating air at the day's 
dawn. Lying abed in the morning is debilitating to mind 
and body. Besides, there will be more apt to occur those 
morbid cravings for sexual commerce, which are due to 



1 82 FEMINOLOGY. 

pressure upon the sexual organs by a distended bladder 
and colon. Husbands ought particularly to bear .this fact 
in mind, and be out of bed as soon as waking. It will 
soon become apparent that what they have so fondly 
believed to be nature's prompting to intercourse, is nature's 
"prompting" to evacuate the colon and bladder, for the other 
"prompting" passes away, unless inflamed by the mind. 

The habit of early rising enables the housewife to 
arrange her day's work that no tangles ensue. In addi- 
tion to having the routine work done betimes, she has 
gained for herself a midday rest, which should be reli- 
giously observed by the pregnant woman especially, and 
housewives generally. 

More rest may be obtained by lying flat upon the back 
without a pillow, or resting upon the right side, with only 
enough pillow to prevent the head from drooping. Go 
to a room where there is quiet, if possible, then lie still 
and think of nothing. Let the mind be blank. If it is 
hard to drop everything at first, by cultivation, it will 
become a habit when rest is sought. As the recumbent 
position is assumed, the idea of rest should be fixed in the 
mind; other things will vanish in the background, rest 
comes, and the prospective mother arises refreshed, and 
better able to be her best self. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CONFINEMENT. 

An expectant mother, who has calculated the probable 
time of labor, will be on the alert for any indications of 
its approach. She will have all preparations made ready for 
the occasion. Baby's wardrobe will have been completed, 
household affairs adjusted, physician and nurse chosen, and 
all conveniences at hand for use at the final act of nature, 
which shall place the being she has cherished in her arms. 

If the accommodations of the house admit of a choice 
of bedrooms, the largest and sunniest should be selected 
for the period during which the woman shall be withdrawn 
from her usual occupations. The bedstead should be care- 
fully examined as to its solidity; sometimes a lying-in 
patient is given an unpleasant or hurtful jar by some part 
of the bed falling. The best bed is a mattress of husks and 
cotton, or a well-filled straw bed, supported by comfort- 
able springs. No feathers should be allowed, except pil- 
lows to support the mother's head. The pillows to be used 
for confinement should be well aired. It will be well to 
have two set, one of which may be sunned and aired while 
the other is in use. 

As protection for the bed, there should be provided two 
yards of rubber sheeting or oilcloth. When labor com- 
mences, this should be spread over the mattress, over it a 
quilt or comfortable easily laundered, and the undersheet. 

183 



1 84 FEMINOLOGY. 

The bed is to be set out from the wall, and the side on 
which the woman lies during the expulsive efforts, should 
have a special protection, for which there may be used a 
cheese-cloth comfortable, padded with newspapers. This 
affords perfect protection to the bedding, and can be burned 
on the cleaning up after delivery. This can be removed 
without fatigue or trouble to the mother, after labor, and 
another similar comfortable placed under her. 

An abundance of soft cloths should be at hand for use 
of the nurse and physician in catching and removing the 
discharges. Old cloths that may be burned after using 
are most acceptable. All seams and buttons should be 
removed. Some fine pieces of old linen are desirable for 
use about the newborn infant. Some physicians instruct 
patients to provide cheese-cloth for use at this time. A 
large square of soft, dry flannel should be ready to wrap 
about the infant as soon as respiration is established. 

Bath pans and hot water should be about the first prepa- 
rations when labor begins. The husband can be attending 
to those while the nurse is getting other things in readiness. 
All conveniences and necessities should be in readiness 
beforehand, to avoid confusion at the time of progress of 
labor. There should be a hot-water bottle, a good syringe, 
a bed-pan, towels, carbolic soap for the mother's use, and 
the best of castile for the babe, arnica, vaseline, and olive 
oil. It is always well to have thread and scissors at hand 
for tying and severing the umbilical cord, although most 
physicians who practice obstetrics carry their own. Tying 
the cord is customary, but not necessary. 



CONFINEMENT. 185 

Many attendants are unnecessary, and oftentimes inju- 
rious. If the husband is at all adapted to assisting domes- 
tically, the nurse needs no one else. But a lady friend who 
is cheery and sympathetic will add comfort and strength 
oftentimes to the patient. 

Symptoms of Labor. — The first manifestation that ges- 
tation is nearly completed, usually occurs from two weeks 
to ten days before parturition. The uterus and its contents 
sink to the brim of the pelvis, and the patient experiences 
greater freedom in breathing, and feels very comfortable. 
The change is due to the yielding of the cervix, which 
blends into one with the body of the womb; the infant's 
head occupies the added space in the pelvic cavity. The 
change sometimes occurs suddenly in a night or two; some- 
times gradually. The bladder is usually made more active, 
owing to the pressure of the uterus and its contents. 

A day or two preceding labor, discharges are passed from 
the vagina. The mouth and neck of the womb have been 
closed throughout the period of pregnancy by a mucous 
secretion, and it being no longer needed, is passed away. 
Nurses call this the show. 

The most common indications that labor is begun are 
pains; pains of a kind not to be confused with any other 
to be experienced by the system. These are due to sensi- 
tiveness of the womb, increased by its contractions and the 
pressure of the child against the mouth, and by the enlarge- 
ment of the vagina, through which it passes. In health, 
there is elasticity in these tissues, and no suffering experi- 



1 86 FEMINOLOGY. 

enced. In disease, there is congestion and resistance. It 
would be as unnecessary, in health, to make elaborate prepa- 
ration for this natural function, as it now is to evacuate 
the bowels. The contents of the womb are expelled by 
the same kind of contraction as food is propelled through 
the digestive tract. The abdominal muscles assist in the 
last stages of parturition, as they do in passages from the 
rectum. Pain is experienced in proportion to the extent 
of disease. In order to avoid it, health should be cultivated 
in preference to all else. 

In noting the progress of labor, it will be necessary to 
consider pain as an element, in the average case. 

In the earliest stages, there is often irritability of the 
bladder and lower bowel, causing a desire for frequent 
evacuation. If the bowels be not moved, it will be well 
to induce a passage by means of an enema of hot water. 
Sometimes a sensation of chilliness is felt sufficient to cause 
the teeth to chatter. Drinking hot water or hot tea over- 
comes it. The flow from the vagina increases, indicating 
that the way is being prepared for the expulsive efforts. 

Nausea and vomiting are of common occurrence; but 
very rarely among those who have used the fruit and vege- 
table diet. 

What are called true labor pains at the commencement 
of labor are to be felt in the back, groin, lowest, and front 
part of the abdomen. They are distinguishable from false 
labor pains. The false pain is continuous, shifting from 
the back to the sides and abdomen. True pains at the com- 
mencement are weak, of short duration, and long intervals 



CONFINEMENT. 



187 



between; they increase in frequency as labor progresses. 
At first they occur every fifteen minutes or half hour, and 
last but a few seconds. As labor progresses, they become 
more and more frequent, more severe, and of longer dura- 
tion, as the contractions become more forcible. 




The Fetus, Inclosed in Its Membranes, with Expanding Os 
Uteri in First Stage of Labor. 

The membranes which inclose the fetus, and liquor 
amnii are crowded to the mouth of the womb, and form 
that which is termed " the bag of waters." The pressure 
of the membranes precedes the infant's head, and prepares 
the way. They are usually ruptured in the vaginal passage, 
allowing the water to escape; after which labor advances 
rapidly. Occasionally the membranes are expelled, with the 



1 88 FEMINOLOGY. 

child entire. A pair of scissors should make an incision to 
enable the infant to breathe. Sometimes there is a rupture 
at the commencement of labor, and the membranes expelled 
with the child. It is then said to be " born with a veil," and 
will be " lucky " through life. 

In the majority of cases, the infant's head is expelled 
first, and directly the body. 

Labor is finished with the placenta coming away. 

Special Observations for Mother and Attendants. — If 
it is possible to have the nurse in the house some time before 
labor, it is well to do so, that she may familiarize herself 
with surroundings, and that the patient become accustomed 
to her. If she cannot come before, as soon as labor com- 
mences she should be sent for. The medical attendant 
should also be informed that he or she is about to be needed, 
that their business may be regulated in accordance. 

The patient must have entire control of herself. An 
anxious, nervous woman is of little value in assisting nature 
with this function. She must realize that it is natural to 
bear children, and banish the thought of fear. All the assist- 
ance and energy that can be brought to bear, should be 
the intelligent mother's thought to give — as much at par- 
turition as throughout gestation. 

The lying-in room should be warm, with plenty of fresh 
air in circulation, but no drafts. During the first stage 
of labor, the patient may occupy herself with whatever 
duties she is able to attend. It is far better that she be 
occupied and about the house. In the second, or dilating 



ISM! 




NORMAL PRESENTATION. 



CONFINEMENT. 189 

stage, she would better be getting in readiness for the 
expulsive efforts. At this point, the value of the sitz bath 
will be experienced. The husband and nurse should place the 
tub and foot bath in readiness ; the patient should sit in the 
tub, with feet in the foot bath, and be inclosed with blankets 
and quilts. She should sit there as long as she can, the 
heat being kept up by means of hot water added by the 
attendant. Two hours is not too long. From time to time, 
she should drink freely of hot water. When she is ready 
to be removed from the bath, the flesh should be dried, 
and she assisted into her clean bed-gown, such as she wishes 
to wear after delivery. The gown should be pinned about 
the waist, and a flannel petticoat assumed for the protec- 
tion of the body during delivery. Over the gown, if it 
be cool weather, a flannel dressing sack may be worn. The 
patient should lie down, be wrapped up snugly, and the hot- 
water bottle placed at her feet. 

This treatment will bring a quick and easy delivery, 
rarely lasting over an hour or two. 

Without the sitz bath, perspiration may be brought out 
by drinking freely of hot water or weak ginger tea, as 
often as every ten minutes. Meanwhile, having a care that 
the feet are warm, and wearing a shawl or blanket to assist 
in retaining the heat of the body. If it is not agreeable 
to sit in the sitz bath, use the hot foot bath. This " sweating 
process " is the best known for accomplishing easy delivery, 
and for obviating unpleasant after disorders. 

There is seldom a desire for food during labor, under 
the sitz bath treatment; but if there should be, only liquid 



190 



FEMINOLOGY. 



food should be taken. The body needs all its energy for 
parturition. 

In a natural labor, very little assistance is needed. The 
only duty of the medical attendant is to watch its progress 
that he can correct anything that may not be right. When 
he first comes, it is necessary that the nature of the case 
be understood. Having found that labor is begun, he will 




Position of Patient in Hemorrhage 
after Labor. 

not in any way attempt to hurry or interfere. All manipu- 
lations are to be condemned as hindrances. The first exami- 
nation, described by Dr. Nichols as follows, is the general 
rule: Said he, "I prefer that the patient m lie on her back, 
with the knees drawn up a little. Sitting by the side of 
the bed, I moisten or oil the forefinger of the hand nearest 
her (most physicians prefer to use the right hand), and, 
passing it under the bedclothes, I carefully and delicately 
move it along the thigh, separate the labia, pass the finger 
up the vagina, find the mouth of the uterus, and feel if it 



CONFINEMENT. 



191 



is expanded. If the neck of the uterus is quite gone, and 
its mouth expanded even to the size of a shilling piece, I 
conclude that labor is well begun. It is best to introduce 




Face Presentation. 

the finger during a pain, as the patient will bear it better; 
and to wait till the pain has ceased, the better to find the 
amount of expansion." Sometimes a woman is of the 
opinion that her physician is able to accelerate labor. This 
is a very mistaken notion. No medicine that he can admin- 



192 FEMINOLOGY. 

ister or manipulation that can be made but that is more apt 
to do harm than good. The hot sitz bath or other processes 
of producing perspiration are relaxing to the nervous ten- 
sion throughout the system. If these are practiced, labor 
will be rapid enough to satisfy every one, and without the 
after effects caused by all drugs and the use of instruments. 

I cannot pass on without saying a word in regard to 
the pernicious habit of using instruments to deliver the 
child. It is well known that a large majority of parturient 
women will beg to have her suffering brought to an end, 
and so-called physicians, to save themselves a possible long 
wait on nature, and for the further reason that the use of 
instruments permits an extra fee, only too eagerly com- 
ply with her request. This forcible delivery so frequently 
entails life-long misery on both mother and child that its 
practice should be condemned by every thinking mind. A 
lady suffering from prolapse of the vaginal walls came to 
me for treatment. She explained her condition as being 
the result of a forcible delivery, with instruments, of her last 
child. The physician, pulling with all his strength, brought 
the child into the world so unexpectedly to himself, that 
he -had not time to regain his equilibrium, and was pre- 
cipitated backward against a stove, knocking it over. The 
child was dead, of course. The physician who is willing to 
bide nature's time, doing all that is possible to assist, not 
force, is the one entitled to the larger fee, and should be 
sought out by the expectant mother, for, alas! he has to 
be sought for. 

Just before the final expulsive efforts are made, the phy- 



CONFINEMENT. 



193 



sician should be at hand to receive and care for the infant 
At this period, and not before, should there be any exertion 
to " bear down." The patient now rather feels that she 




Placenta Presenting. 

must bear down, and naturally pushes with her feet and 
pulls with her hands. A hassock or other small footstool 
may be placed at the foot of the bed, against which she 
can brace her feet. She can grasp the two ends of a bed- 
spread thrown around the foot of the bed, or take hold 
»3 



194 FEMIXOLOGY. 

of any firm mechanical contrivance that will resist the efforts 
of the arms. 

Some patients prefer to brace the bended knees against 




Twins in Utero. Head and Breech Presenting. 

something or somebody; others merely to clasp their arms 
about the husband or assistant. In natural, easy labor, 
there is no such desire, the contractions of the uterus being 
all that is necessary to expel its contents. 

The head is not usually born at the first expulsive effort. 




HEAD ENGAGED IN BIRTH-CANAL. 



CONFINEMENT. 195 

It appears at the vulva, and recedes perhaps several times. 
As soon as the head is born, it should be supported, that 
its weight be not sustained by the neck. After a moment, 
the body of the infant is expelled, and should be gently 
placed a short distance from the mother, and upon its right 
side. Its mouth should be cleared of mucus and discharges, 
as soon as born ; if the cord be about its neck, the attendant 
slips it gently over the head. Baby should, as soon as 
breathing is established, be warmly covered and left until 
all pulsation in the cord has ceased, which will be from 
five minutes to a half hour. In the meantime, the mother 
can be made comfortable by a change of position, removing 
some of the soiled clothes, and fresh ones given her. 

Too early severing the cord deprives the child of much 
vitality. It will be the more apt to die in infancy, or early 
in life. The mother's blood, as long as propelled through 
the umbilicus, belongs to the child. It is pulsating for 
the child for several minutes after breathing begins, that 
the system may become accustomed to the new function 
of respiration. The infant is changed from a breathless 
being under water to a life in the air. Its independent 
existence must not be brought about too suddenly for its 
own health's sake. After all pulsation has ceased in the 
cord is nature's indication as to the proper time for sever- 
ing. It may be tied or not, as the physician thinks best, 
before being cut. Tying is not a necessity, if the above 
rule is acted upon. When this is done, care should be used 
to see that the intestine is not within it; the safest plan 
being to make the tie three or four inches from the body. 



196 FEMINOLOGY. 

It is well for parents to understand some of the neces- 
sary cares of mother and infant. The mother herself is 
not in state of mind or physical position to see that every- 
thing is going as she thinks it should during parturition. 
But, as all physicians are not men and women of conscience, 
and the babe is dearer to the parents than to him, it should 
be the father's business to oversee. Not officiously, to be 
sure, but only in case where indications are that the phy- 
sician is trying to hurry nature in order to get to another 
job with a fee attached. 

Whenever possible, a lady should consult with her nurse 
and physician at the time they are engaged, as to these 
vital points in the interest of herself and child. 

After having the navel dressed, the babe should be 
rubbed with warm sweet oil, wrapped snugly in his flannel, 
given a teaspoonful of pure, cool (not cold) water, and 
laid on his right side to rest, while his mother is being 
cared for. The water clears the mouth, esophagus, and 
stomach, and assists in moving the bowels. As he is usu- 
ally clamoring for feed, vigorously trying to swallow his 
own fists, the water gives him a temporary satisfaction. 

The first excrement from the bowels is very dark and 
very sticky, not unlike tar in consistency. Many young 
mothers are worried, not knowing it to be natural. 

After the child is expelled from the womb, contractions 
reduce the size very much, and usually loosen the attach- 
ment of the placenta from the uterine walls. 

There is a rest of from a half hour to two hours, often 
longer, before contractions begin to expel the afterbirth. 




POSTERIOR ARM PRESENTING. 




REMOVAL OF PLACENTA.— (A Common Practice.) 



CONFINEMENT. 197 

It should not be hurried. By no manner of means should 
it be expelled by action of drugs, nor the cord be pulled to 
draw the placenta, unless it be loose, nor a hand inserted 
to scrape it from the uterine walls. If the placenta is 
adherent, unless there be flooding, wait nature's time. The 
patient will be better for it. It has been known to be 
retained thirty-six to forty-eight hours. Forcibly removing 
it is fraught with danger to the patient. Warm injections 
used in the bowels will prove helpful. Dr. Stockham recom- 
mends an injection of cold water into the vein of the cord, 
in case of hemorrhage, which, she says, will, in many cases, 
remove a retained placenta. 

After being expelled with the membranes, it should be 
burned or buried. Never in any instance should it be thrown 
into a privy vault, as it putrefies rapidly, and will give rise 
to sickness. Fire consumes impurity, and the earth absorbs 
and scatters it. 

A flow of blood accompanies the discharge of the pla- 
centa. This soon ceases, giving way to the lochia, a cleans- 
ing flow that continues from four to twelve days after 
confinement, in proportion as the delivery has been natural, 
and the woman healthy. 

Management of Mother and Child. — Delivery having 
been accomplished, the vagina should be well cleansed with 
tepid water, in which a few drops of carbolic acid has been 
used, the soiled bed dressing removed, and a fresh pro- 
tection substituted, while the patient is having her bath. 
The back, abdomen, and thighs should be cleansed with 



198 FEMINOLOGY. 

carbolic soap and tepid water, and gently but thoroughly 
dried; a clean, soft cloth wrung from water into which a 
teaspoonful of arnica has been poured, should be placed to 
the labia and covered with a larger, dry napkin. 

No bandage is necessary. A tight bandage rather hin- 
ders recovery than helps it. It is said to prevent a sagging 
abdomen. But, as a laxity of muscular fibers is due to a 
general constitutional weakness, whatever strengthens the 
system, will correct that. Instead of any bandage, a large 
towel should be wrung out of cool water, folded a con- 
venient size, and placed over the abdomen, with a dry cloth 
over it to prevent the dampness reaching the bed-gown. 
This compress will strengthen the abdominal muscles, pre- 
vent fever and hemorrhage, and assist contractions of the 
uterus in bringing it to the normal size. It should be fre- 
quently changed. 

The uterine contractions are sometimes painful, and are 
given the name of afterpains. This pain rarely occurs in 
a first confinement, and not at all where there has been 
previous care of the health during pregnancy, and where 
labor has not been influenced by ergot or other poisonous 
drugs. A hot-water bag placed over the abdomen will 
give relief from the cramp-like pain in ordinary cases. 
When further treatment is needed, the physician should 
be informed. 

After the mother and her bed have been made tidy, she 
should be warmly- covered with blankets, and left to rest. 
Throughout the tidying process, she must not be allowed 
to exert herself, but conserve her strength for recuperation. 



CONFINEMENT. 203 

Nothing will make the confined mother more unhappy 
or hinder her speedy recovery, than to be worried because 
of her infant's fretfulness. A well baby, well cared for, 
does not cry. 

The diet of a lying-in patient must consist of easily 
digested foods. The strain upon herself in parturition calls 
the recuperative forces away from other bodily functions. 
Oatmeal with cream and sugar, graham bread, laxative 
fruits, game, broiled steak, or chops, soft boiled eggs, any 
such that may be agreeable to her may be served. 

The bowels will be moved in twenty-four hours, in an 
easy labor ; and the bladder be emptied earlier. In difficult 
labor, the partial or entire paralysis of the bladder and 
colon will be prolonged. If the bowels do not act by the 
fourth day after delivery, there should be a cleansing by 
means of an enema of warm water ; the patient resting over 
the bedpan for the purpose. If the urine is not voided, 
notify the physician. 

As often as twice a day, the vagina should be cleansed 
with the syringe and tepid water, in which there are a few 
drops of carbolic acid. This disinfecting treatment helps 
to prevent septic poisoning, by flooding out any decom- 
posing matter within the tract. 

The patient should have a daily sponge bath, to be given 
preferably in the mornings. A portion of the body should 
be washed and dried, keeping the balance protected. 

The linen about the patient and bed should be changed 
daily. Although the sheets, pillowcases, and gown may 
not show any soil visible to the eye, yet the emanations 



204 FEMIN0L0GY. 

from the body, at this time, are such as to necessitate a 
change for thoroughly clean articles of wear. 

Baby's bath should occur about the same hour every 
day. At first, it will only be necessary to notice the arm- 
pits, groin, and creases caused by fat, in order to keep him 
sweet and clean. After the cord is separated, the navel 
may be washed and dressed again with the absorbent cot- 
ton and sweet oil or vaseline, and the band applied. Any 
pouching of the navel may be corrected by stitching into 
the band a piece of pasteboard wrapped in several thick- 
nesses of linen. This should be placed directly over the 
cotton. 

When no further dressing of the navel is needed, the 
band should be discarded. Any further use is weakening 
to the abdominal muscles. 

By time an infant is two months of age, he may be put 
daily into a bath. Soap should be used sparingly, how- 
ever, as it destroys the natural oiliness of the skin, which 
protects the child from taking cold. Not longer than five 
minutes should be used in giving the bath, and when taken 
from it, the little body should be wrapped in shawl or 
blanket and dried a portion at a time, keeping the balance 
covered. 

When he is three months of age or even earlier, he can 
be placed regularly in a toilet chair for evacuations. It 
will not take long to accustom him to this habit, and a great 
deal of comfort is thereby gained to himself and mother. 

As to the time a woman may leave her bed, it should 
be gauged by her strength. It will be best not to attempt 



CONFINEMENT. 205 

it before the third or fourth day, unless labor has been a 
rarely easy one. At that time, if she has an impulse to 
get up, she may be assisted to do so; but if there is faint- 
ness or weariness in a moment or two, she should lie down 
again. It is usually agreeable to sit up as soon as may be, 
while the bed is being changed, at least. A great mistake 
women make is to set a certain time to be about, and then 
get up and stay up. The ninth day has been long con- 
sidered the proper time. To try the feet several times before 
getting up for good is much better. And to lie down when- 
ever there is weariness is best of all, whether on the ninth 
or the ninetieth day. 

No mother who is well informed as to her child's best 
interests will administer soothing syrups, paregoric, or the 
like, nor will she allow them to be given by a nurse. All 
such are destructive to infant vitality, directly interfering 
with digestion and the nervous system. 

After the birth of a child, many months will be needed 
for a woman to regain her former standard of vitality. A 
naturally weakly woman will then find herself improved 
in health, and a healthy woman will become more buoyant; 
and both the more capable of discharging all the pleasant 
duties of motherhood, wifehood, and womanhood. 



MOTHER AND CHILD. 

How best can I serve thee, my child, my child, 
Flesh of my flesh, and dear heart of my heart? 
Once thou wast within me. I held thee, I fed thee, 
By the force of my loving and longing I led thee. 
Now we are apart. 

I may blind thee with kisses, and crush with embracing, 
Thy warm mouth in my neck, and our arms interlacing ; 
But here in my body my soul lives alone, 
And thou answerest me from a house of thine own, 
The house which I builded — 

Which we builded together, thy father and I, 
In which thou must live, Oh my darling, and die. 
Not one stone can I alter, one atom relay ; 
Not to save or defend thee or help thee to stay. 
That gift is completed. 

How best can I serve thee ? Oh child, if thou knew 
How my heart aches with loving ; how deep, and how true, 
How brave and enduring, how patient, how strong, 
How longing for good, and how fearful of wrong 
Is the love of thy mother. 

Could I crown thee with riches, surround, overflow thee 
With fame and with power, till the whole world should 

know thee ; 
With wisdom and genius to hold the world still, 
To bring laughter and tears, joy and pain, at thy will; 
Still, thou might'st not be happy. 

206 




" MOTHER AND CHI] D. 



MOTHER AND CHILD. 207 

Such have lived, and in sorrow. The greater the mind 
The wider and deeper the grief it can find. 
The richer, the gladder, the more thou canst feel, 
The stings of a lifetime is sure to reveal. 

Oh my child must thou suffer? 

Is there no way my life can save thine from a pain ? 
Is the love of a mother no possible gain ? 
No labor of Hercules — search for the Grail — 
No way for this wonderful love to avail ? 
God in heaven, O teach me ! 
****** 

My prayer has been answered. The pain thou must fear 
Is the pain of the world's life, which thy life must share. 
Thou art one with the world, tho' I love thee the best. 
And to save thee from pain I must save all the rest. 
Well; with God's help, I'll do it. 

Thou art one with the rest ; I must love thee in them. 
Thou wilt sin with the rest, and thy mother must stem 
The world's sin. Thou wilt weep, and thy mother must dry 
The tears of the world, lest her darling should cry. 
I will do it, God helping. 

And I stand not alone. I will gather a band 
Of all loving mothers from land unto land. 
Our children are part of the world. Do you hear ? 
They are one with the vvtorld ; we must hold them all dear. 
Love all, for the child's sake. 

For the sake of my child I must hasten to save 
All the children on earth from the jail and the grave. 
For so, and so only, I lighten the share 
Of the pain of the world that my darling must bear. 
Even so, and so only. 

— Charlotte Perkins Stetson. 



CHAPTER X. 

CONVALESCENCE AND ITS DRAWBACKS. 

The period of convalescence from confinement is usu- 
ally a very pleasant one for the mother. The favorable 
termination of pregnancy has set her mind at ease, and 
the delivery into her arms of " the flesh of her flesh and 
dear of her heart " fills her entire being with reverential 
delight. A new interest has been added, one that will call 
out loving care and attention while life shall last. Gladly 
and patiently all true parents accept and discharge duty in 
whatever form it comes, in the care of their offspring. 
Unselfish love, which gives, and asks no return, should 
always be theirs for the child, from the fact that existence 
has been thrust upon him without his consent or approval. 
There will need be some sacrifices made in his interest and 
some discomforts borne, but to accept all in the loving 
patience of true parenthood, and to do the best according 
to their understanding will develop all latent qualities of 
good, and round out a noble manhood and womanhood. 

Normal recovery after confinement corresponds with the 
return of the uterus to its usual condition, and the proper 
care of the breasts to prevent soreness or abscesses. 

In a natural labor, one in which nature has not been 
hurried by the use of drugs or instruments, all that is need- 
ful for a perfect and rapid convalescence is that the nurse 
observe the following : — 
208 



CONVALESCENCE AND ITS DRAWBACKS. 209 

1. An equable temperature should be preserved in the 
lying-in room, night and day. 

2. Perfect ventilation must be established, so that, while 
pure air is admitted, a way is also provided for the foul 
air to escape; which latter an open fire supplies. 

3. An abundance of sunlight should be allowed to per- 
meate the room, whenever the weather admits of it. Light 
and vitality are inseparable. The sun's rays not only warm 
the atmosphere, but purify it. Where the light is trying 
to the patient's eyes, a screen should be arranged to shield 
them, while the entire room is given the revivifying influ- 
ence of sunshine. 

4. There must be absolute cleanliness of the bed linen, 
clothing, and person of the patient. In addition to the 
daily bath, as before mentioned, the vulva should be washed 
with an antiseptic solution, and the vagina syringed with 
the same at least twice a day. No offensive odor should be 
allowed to exist, even if the cleansing must occur oftener 
than twice a day. The bed-pan, or bed-bath, is almost 
a necessity to receive the water as it leaves the vagina; 
the patient must not leave the recumbent position, in ordi- 
nary cases. Napkins intended to absorb the discharges 
should be changed about every four hours, for the first 
few days. 

5. Quiet and repose are essential to recovery. For this 
reason no visitors should be allowed in the lying-in room, 
until the medical attendant gives permission. Different 
women naturally differ in susceptibility to disturbance, and 
the severity of labor affects various women in dissimilar 

14 



210 



FEMIN0L0GY. 



ways. Headache, sleeplessness, and feverish conditions 
result from excitement caused by visitors to a confined 
patient, oftentimes terminating in serious illness. 

For the first two weeks after confinement, the womb 

can be felt at the lower part 
of the abdomen, at first as 
large as a small cocoanut, and 
gradually lessening in size and 
prominence. By the fourth 
week, no indication of its size 
can be noticed in exploring by 
means of the touch. It does 
not, however, reach its origi- 
nal size until about the sixth 
or seventh week. The weight 
before pregnancy is from one 
to two ounces, while just after 
parturition, it is twenty times 
as heavy. A retarded or in- 

Arterial Vessels in a Uterus complete return of the Uterus 
Ten Days after Delivery. . ... 

x. The uterus or womb ; 2 , mouth of the t0 ltS n0rmal dimensions IS 

uterus; 3, 3. round ligaments ; 4, 4. Fallopian ^jj^ ^.^^/^^ 
tubes; 5, right ovary; 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, u, 
arteries branching to the uterus. Jf p r0 p er meaSUreS, during 

pregnancy, have been observed to secure health and a pain- 
less delivery, there is scant liability to any post-partum dis- 
orders. But, as all women do not take the trouble to make 
necessary conditions, or are hindered from so doing by cir- 
cumstances, it will be necessary to notice some of the ail- 
ments in the pathway of health. 




CONVALESCENCE AND ITS DRAWBACKS. 211 



Hemorrhage after delivery occurs when the uterus fails 
to contract. Patients have expressed themselves as feeling 
perfectly at ease; all pain gone, likewise all hope of life, 
or fear of death. If clots or retained parts of the placenta 
or membranes are causing the flooding, they must be 




Showing Manner in Which Head Rotates with Chin Extended. 

removed by surgical interference. Hot applications are 
better than cold to arrest the flow. The patient should 
be laid horizontally, with the head a little lower than 
the body, and the physician sent for, if he is not present. 
Hemorrhage may be temporarily arrested by placing one 
hand in the uterus and the other on the abdomen, just 
over the uterus. Rub vigorously with the external hand 
until hemorrhage ceases, or until the doctor's arrival. 

When the body is very much weakened by a tedious 
labor, too early at too severe exertion afterward is liable 



212 FEMINOLOGY. 

to produce hemorrhage, hence should be avoided. An 
instance occurred where a lady -lost her life from flooding, 
occasioned by overexertion in combing her head of luxu- 
riant hair. 

Laceration of the cervix is not uncommon where labor 
has been hurried by the use of drugs. The dilatation of 
the os uteri not being sufficient to allow the infant head 
to pass, the forcing effect of the drugs causes the muscular 
walls to tear apart. The patient is thereby made an invalid 
until such time as she can bring herself to be operated upon. 

Laceration of the perineum is yet more common, 
usually occurring in the birth of the first child. 

Falling of the womb is attendant upon laceration of 
the perineum, and is not curable until stitches have been 
made, and the parts which were torn are healed. 

It is also a result of heavy physical exercise too early 
after having been confined. The uterus not having reached 
the normal size, bears heavily upon its supporting liga- 
ments, which, with the added pressure from overexer- 
tion, causes part or all of them to weaken, and different 
displacements are the result. When all the ligaments lose 
elasticity, the uterus descends into the vagina, sometimes 
passing outside the body. This is the displacement known 
as prolapsus uteri. The organ is often tilted against the 
bladder by weakening of the posterior ligaments, causing 
a disordered condition of the bladder. This position is 
termed ant ever sion; while an inclination against the rectum 
is termed retroversion. 

Displacements can better be prevented than cured. Over- 



CONVALESCENCE AND ITS DRAWBACKS. 213 

taxing the strength is always weakening, and must be 
severely condemned. Let those who will refer to one as 
indolent, never try to disprove it by exertion to the point 
of pain and exhaustion. The recently confined woman 
must remember the forty days necessary for complete invo- 
lution, and not before that time attempt any heavy labors, 
such as washing, sweeping, running the sewing machine; 
while her husband must not forget that, for health's sake, 
her body must be free from intrusion sexually, for at least 
six weeks. The clothing must not be allowed to press upon 
the pelvic viscera, if " female weakness " is to be avoided, 
or if it is to be cured after once being brought on by trans- 
gressions. 

Constipation almost always attends severe labor, and 
in turn produces other disorders, if allowed to continue. 
When the bowels are not moved by the third or fourth 
day after confinement, the excrements must be cleansed away 
by means of enemas. 

Protrusion of the bowel is not an uncommon post- 
partum disorder, owing to a relaxed condition of the rec- 
tum. (That part of the bowel extending from the anus, 
or outer opening, to the last curve of the colon, known as 
the sigmoid flexure, is the rectum. The term is often con- 
fused with anus.) When the bowel protrudes, it should 
be carefully replaced by the index finger, which must previ- 
ously be washed and oiled and the nail trimmed. An ulcera- 
tion may result from carelessness in replacing. Heavy 
labor must be avoided for some time, to give opportunity 
for recuperation. 



214 FEMINOLOGY. 

Milk fever is only present where nursing the babe is 
postponed until the secretion of milk is established. If 
the child is allowed to nurse several times daily, engorge- 
ment of the glands is obviated, and milk fever cannot occur, 
unless the observations for sanitation are transgressed. If 
the babe does not take all the milk when the secretion is 
established, the breasts should be emptied by means of the 
breast-pump or other contrivance. If there is tenderness 
or soreness, bathe in hot water, using care that the touch 
be so gentle as not to bruise. 

Sore nipples are caused by the early efforts of the 
child at nursing, where there is existing tenderness. By 
using care to bathe and dry the nipple immediately after 
nursing, the tenderness gives way to firmness, which always 
follows use. Some authorities recommend a previous prepa- 
ration of the nipple before confinement. One of the best 
trained nurses, Elizabeth Robinson Scovil, says sore nipples 
may be prevented " by bathing the nipples twice a day, for 
six weeks before confinement, with powdered alum dis- 
solved in alcohol, or salt dissolved in brandy." A painful 
thing to the mother is that where the nipple becomes cracked 
and bleeds when the babe nurses. Any slight rawness or 
soreness should be immediately attended to, thus preventing 
fissures. Vaseline or cold cream may be applied, after 
washing and drying the part. This must be removed before 
allowing the babe to the breast, and renewed after nursing. 

Depressed nipples result from tight clothing before 
and during pregnancy. Where this condition exists, a 
simple device for drawing the nipple outward consists in 



CONVALESCENCE AND ITS DRAWBACKS. 215 

filling a bottle with hot water, emptying it, and quickly 
placing the mouth over the nipple. As the bottle cools, the 
air condenses, leaving a vacuum, and the nipple pushes out- 
ward. A nipple shield can be used to advantage, the prin- 
ciple being the same. The infant sucking creates a vacuum 
which the natural nipple is impelled to fill. As soon as the 
nipple is sufficiently drawn out for the babe to seize, no 
further treatment is needed. 

Excessive flow of milk makes the mother uncom- 
fortable, but is in no wise dangerous, unless the clothing 
is allowed to become saturated and the person chilled. A 
flannel should be worn over the breasts, and changed as 
often as saturated. Meantime, it is always well to limit 
the amount of liquids taken into the system. 

Insufficiency of milk can almost always be overcome 
by increased richness of diet, or better yet, by taking con- 
siderable quantities of new milk. If it cannot be obtained 
directly from the cow, it may be heated by addition of a 
quantity of boiling water. Warm water is said to prevent 
milk from curdling in the stomach, and when the tem- 
perature equals that of the stomach, the absorbent vessels 
convey it directly to the blood. Women who dislike milk 
should try, for the child's sake, to cultivate a taste for it, 
when their own lacteal secretion is not enough for the 
infant's nourishment. It should be remembered that the 
most powerful stimulus to the secretions of the breast is 
afforded by the child's attempts at nursing. And artificial 
feeding should be discouraged until all attempts to increase 
the natural supply have failed. A diseased condition of 



216 FEMINOLOGY. 

the mother may sicken her babe through its nourishment. 
In such cases, only, are artificial means of feeding of chief 
value. Good digestion on the part of the mother is usually 
all that is essential for a sufficient supply of milk. Ale, beer, 
and stout are frequently recommended and taken to increase 
the flow of milk. But it is a pernicious practice, creative of 
much more evil than good. 

Inflammation of the breast is a distressing and often- 
times a serious ailment resulting from cold, or a bruise, 
or accumulation of milk in the glands. When any part of 
the breast feels hard or knotty, no time should be lost in 
drawing away the milk. Afterward the breast may be 
gently rubbed toward the nipple with sweet oil until the 
" cake " has disappeared. When there is inflammation, the 
woman is feverish, often nauseated, sharp, shooting pains 
are felt in the affected parts, and a general dullness through- 
out the system. There are chilly sensations and the breast 
becomes hard and exceedingly sensitive. Hot applications 
should be promptly used. A flannel may be kept hot by 
laying over it the hot-water bag containing a small quan- 
tity of boiling water. To break up the chilly sensation, 
the patient may drink hot water often, and be covered 
warmly in bed, with something hot placed to the feet. This 
tends to equalize the circulation, without which no ailment 
can be cured. If the breasts be well drawn as often as 
every two hours, and hot applications persisted in, no sup- 
puration will follow. " A poultice made out of roasted 
poke-root applied to the gland will be found a valuable auxil- 
iary in aborting this species of inflammation." 



CONVALESCENCE AND ITS DRAWBACKS. 217 

If treatment persisted in for some time, as above rec- 
ommended, does not bring relief, send word to the physi- 
cian. The formation of an abscess should be prevented, 
if possible. No longer than twelve hours should elapse 
without noticeable relief. A severe gathering will injure 
the function of the breast perhaps for all time. 

Puerperal peritonitis, or child-bed fever, is an inflam- 
mation of the uterus and its covering, which often extends 
to surrounding peritoneum. The peritoneum is the mem- 
brane which lines the abdominal cavity and covers the 
viscera. It will be remembered that the ligaments sup- 
porting the uterus are formed of folds of this membrane. 
So that inflammation of one portion is easily communi- 
cated in all directions to other portions. This is a great 
scourge to motherhood. Professor Meigs said, " There is 
almost no acute disease that is more terrible than this. The 
smallpox itself, which reduces the fairest form of humanity 
to a mass of breathing corruption, cannot be looked upon 
with greater dread." 

The attack ordinarily commences with a chill, in from 
the third to the twelfth day after confinement, although it 
may come later. Pains, accompanied by soreness and ten- 
derness in the abdominal region, begin with the chill. The 
abdomen bloats, the lochia ceases, as does the secretion of 
milk. 

This disorder must be taken in hand promptly, and the 
physician notified, else the patient's life must pay the forfeit. 
The first step in its treatment is to get the patient hot and 
perspiring, and keep her so until the inflammation subsides. 



218 FEMINOLOGY. 

The bowels and vagina should receive frequent hot injec- 
tions, in which carbolic acid has been used ; which will tend 
to prevent gangrene of the intestines and uterus by neu- 
tralizing the septic conditions. 

I was called to see a lady, suffering from peritonitis, 
whose family had been notified by the attending physician 
that her case was hopeless. I obtained the following his- 
tory: patient, mother of a three weeks' old babe, after 
doing the family washing, took a severe chill, with agonizing 
pain through lower part of abdomen. This was followed 
by vomiting. A physician was called, who injected mor- 
phia to relieve the pain, and ordered cloths wrung from 
hot water applied over the abdomen ; but the pain continued 
like darting knife thrusts. Another physician was called 
in consultation. The hot applications were continued, and 
belladonna administered, the morphia being discontinued. 
This treatment continued three days, when the family was 
apprised of the gravity of the case. I found the patient 
with features shrunken, lying low in the bed, with limbs 
partially flexed, pulse 145, temperature 104, dry surface, 
bowels that had not moved in two days. The case was 
doubtful,' to say the least. I ordered the bedding, which was 
wet, changed, and a poultice of flaxseed, red pepper, and 
polyganum hydropiper (smartweed) applied over the abdo- 
men. Into a glass of water I put four drams Fl. Ex. Myrica 
Compound Officianalis, two drams Fl. Ex. Asclepias, and 
one dram Natrium Sulphate, third trituration, and directed 
that she be given a teaspoonful of this mixture every fifteen 
minutes, followed by two tablespoons of hot water. In 



CONVALESCENCE AND ITS DRAWBACKS. 219 

two hours' time, the surface was moist, and in four hours 
the patient was perspiring freely. She fell into a quiet 
sleep, and awoke feeling much relieved. This treatment 
was continued until the pain had subsided, when vaseline 
was gently applied over the abdomen, and the part covered 
with warm flannel. The bowels were moved after first sub- 
sidence of pain, by warm-water enema, into which had been 
poured an infusion of the polyganum. 

Liquid food only was given until the patient was well 
on to recovery, and after only that most easily digested. 

Hers could hardly be called the real child-bed fever, but 
the inflammatory action of the disorder is the same. Author- 
ities are much divided as to causes of puerperal peritonitis. 
Some claim it is blood poisoning (pyemia) ; some claim 
that it is a contagious disease and can be carried by nurse 
or physician from one patient to another. 

Dr. Playfair said it is erroneously considered to be some- 
thing special to the puerperal state ; that " any decomposing 
organic matter either originating within the generative 
organs of the patient herself, or coming from without, may 
set up this morbid condition." 

One author assigns four causes for it as follows : — 

" 1. The inflammatory condition of the system before 
delivery. If the fruit diet has obviated this, there is noth- 
ing to fear. 

" 2. The use of ergot in confinement. Puerperal fever 
following poison by ergot is very rapid in its course, and 
soon terminates in gangrene. If this drug were banished 
from practice child-bed fever would be rare. 



220 FEMIN0L0GY. 

" 3. Contusions and bruises from instruments not han- 
dled dexterously cause inflammation. 

" 4. The use of cathartics, tonics, stimulants, and other 
drugs after delivery. 

"It is within the power of every woman that she shall 
not be subject to these causes of puerperal fever." 

Healthy women need have no fear of a tedious or pain- 
ful convalescence. The recuperative forces of nature soon 
bring buoyant life and happiness, if not hindered. To be 
sure it will require preparation and forethought to induce 
these best conditions which many women are not willing to 
trouble themselves to take. The introduction of the use 
of chloroform in confinement, to some seems to take away 
the necessity for " trouble " of previous preparation. 

The usefulness of chloroform in a lingering tedious 
labor is not to be denied. The patient is thereby enabled 
to endure what might otherwise prove severely exhaust- 
ing to her. But chloroform cannot obviate the danger of 
post partum diseases, nor operate to the best interest of 
the infant, as does the ante-natal course of preparation on 
the part of the mother. 

This helpful anaesthetic must never be administered by 
any but a competent, conscientious physician, or under his 
direction. The benefit to the patient comes from the exact 
knowledge of how and when it should be used. In the 
case of one who is highly nervous, extremely sensitive to 
pain, chloroform will be a boon no wide-awake intelligent 
physician will deny. 



CHAPTER XL 

ABORTION; FETICIDE. 

When, after impregnation, the contents of the uterus 
are expelled before the full term of gestation, the process 
is known as abortion, miscarriage, or premature labor. 
An abortion occurs before the third month of pregnancy; 
a miscarriage from the third to the sixth month ; premature 
labor between the sixth and ninth months. 

Feticide has reference to intentional destruction of an 
unborn babe, at whatever stage; a practice not at all un- 
common. 

The most common period of miscarriage is from two 
to four months after impregnation, although it may happen 
at one month, and pass away with little notice, being 
mistaken for the menses. 

Premature expulsion of the contents of an impregnated 
womb is an abnormal process, and, whether early or late, 
is always fraught with more or less danger and unhappy 
results than natural delivery. If no care is taken at the 
time to allow perfect recovery, serious and lasting womb 
disease results. 

There are many causes that induce miscarriage aside 
from those that are intentional. Ill health of the mother 
is probably the most common cause. Not having sufficient 
strength to nourish the embryo, and the gestative organ 

221 



222 FEMINOLOGY. 

not being healthful enough to shield and protect it, it is 
lost through sheer weakness. In connection with delicate 
womanhood may be the fact of excessive sexual indulgence 
on the part of the husband. The excess tends to weaken 
a wife bodily and mentally, and prevents both the male 
and female germs from acquiring strength enough to beget 
a full-time child. This is a common cause of miscarriage, 
it is pitiful to state. 

Any severe shock to the nervous system, as a jar or 
fall, or having a tooth extracted; any violent exercise, or 
exposure to extremes of weather, overfatigue at labor; any 
or all of these causes may induce miscarriage. 

Women who, while nursing one infant, become impreg- 
nated, are apt to lose the second; their systems not being 
equal to the double strain. Great worry and privation 
cause miscarriage; extreme constipation or diarrhea that 
induce straining or ''bearing down;" an acute attack of 
any disease as fevers, may cause separation from the mother 
and consequent death of the infant. 

It is said that eight out of every ten wives miscarry at 
some time or other. Those in whom the habit is established 
expel an embryo with very little provocation; a very great 
deal less than would disturb a woman in normal health. 

As a first miscarriage brings weakness to the genera- 
tive system, a married couple must guard against impreg- 
nation until assured of a complete restoration of strength 
to the wife. Any incontinence is very exhausting to one 
who has once miscarried and becomes dangerous if con- 
tinued after a second impregnation. Moderation should 



ABORTION; FETICIDE. 223 

be religiously observed at this time. This becomes an easy 
and pleasant self-restraint if the sleeping accommodations 
do not make it necessary for husband and wife to occupy 
one bed. In case of a previous miscarriage there should 
be a rearrangement at once, if separate beds has not been 
the rule, as it seldom is among the married. 

Impregnation will be avoided until a child is lovingly 
wished for, if husbands and wives will observe a continent 
union, as in Chapter III. This forever does away with 
accidental conceptions, so harmful to the mother, as well 
as the child should it live through. 

If the husband of a woman who has miscarried is one 
who will not refrain from using her body to gratify his 
unholy passion, it will be well if a visit can be arranged 
requiring an absence of some weeks, or months. And while 
absent, no time could be better to open a discussion as to 
whether he loves her or his own senses most. The average 
man can be made to see a point, if he truly loves according 
to his light; but he rarely takes time to seek light on his 
conjugal pathway. The sufferer should cry out. Unless 
she does, the stupid — albeit good — husband will not know 
anything is wrong. It is a duty to herself, and to any 
child she may hope to have, to see that her health is not 
trespassed upon by excessive sexual congress that impreg- 
nates her against her wish. 

In rare cases it is necessary that abortion be produced; 
as when deformity or disease threatens a woman's life, 
should pregnancy continue. "A conscientious physician 
will give serious forethought before undertaking it. No 



224 FEMINOLOGY. 

matter how skillfully the operation be performed, there is 
always some degree of injury to the uterus and to the entire 
system. One abortion is more trying to the system than 
half a dozen natural deliveries, nearly always leaving the 
patient a train of ills to harass her ever afterwards. 

The ordinary symptoms of miscarriage are similar to 
that of painful menstruation. There is backache and misery 
in the lower abdomen, hips and thighs, and a general feel- 
ing of discomfort. This may be accompanied by a loss of 
blood. At this stage miscarriage may be averted. At any 
rate a woman should at once seek a recumbent position, 
and remain there until danger is passed, or the immature 
child, and its accompanying membranes and placenta, has 
been delivered. 

If the early symptoms are disregarded more severe ones 
follow, such as a violent chill resulting from nervous dis- 
turbances; and increased discharges of blood. There is 
always more or less danger from hemorrhage before the 
uterus expels its contents. 

The pain experienced is similar to that at natural 
delivery, but more severe and exhausting. It may continue 
for days, — even weeks before delivery. Often a watery 
discharge, indicating a rupture of the membranes, is the 
first symptom; in which case a miscarriage is inevitable. 

When miscarriage cannot be prevented, care must be 
used to guide it to a satisfactory conclusion. Any retained 
portion will induce inflammation, and the decomposing 
particles will be absorbed into the system causing septic 
poisoning. 



ABORTION; FETICIDE. 225 

The hot sitz bath and footbath, before mentioned, must 
be called into service at least twice a day until the womb 
shall be empty. Or by hot applications to feet and abdo- 
men, hot drinks, and warm coverings the patient may be 
treated in bed. The entire system, including the uterus, 
relaxes under this treatment, allowing the contents to escape, 
while free perspiration assists all poisons in the system to 
be eliminated. The patient must not be allowed to become 
chilled. Recovery requires vigilant care. The same atten- 
tion and treatment are necessary as at normal confinement, 
although the system will require more time and care to 
regain the previous state of health. 

Miscarriage can be prevented. First, by preventing 
conception until the state of the wife's health will insure 
safety. 

Second, by preparation previous to conception, that the 
life germs may have vitality. 

Third, by the use of hygienic measures after conception. 

After one miscarriage at least two years should elapse 
before a second impregnation is allowed. At the same 
stage of pregnancy, as the miscarriage occurred, intelligent 
care should be exercised to prevent a recurrence ; as at that 
period there is liability more than earlier or later. If a 
woman safely passes that stage, she can be reasonably sure 
to reach the full gestative term. 

The distinction between the terms " abortion," " miscar- 
riage," and " premature labor," is purely one of conven- 
ience ; to indicate the stage of pregnancy. 

The farther advanced gestation is, the more painful 
15 



226 FEMINOLOGY. 

and dangerous to the life of a woman should premature 
expulsion occur. The various causes operating to produce 
abortion and miscarriage act similarly in the later stages 
of pregnancy. 

The course of premature labor resembles that of normal 
confinement except in tedious severity. It should not be 
allowed to occur until all possible means of prevention have 
been exhausted. A partially developed babe of six, seven 
or eight months' gestation has a slender chance for life as 
compared with one that has completed gestative life. 

As pregnancy advances, a woman should be prudent in 
diet, exercise, and in all things whereby her own and her 
child's health may be conserved. 

A child born at as early a gestative period as five months, 
has by extreme care been made to live. While those at 
six, seven, or eight months, have proportionately better 
chances for life. 

Feticide — the intentional destruction of the unborn — 
is of such frequent practice as to bring upon the American 
people the appellation of a nation of murderers. Women 
in all stations of life practice it without fear of results or 
consequences. Some there are who do not wish social 
pleasures interrupted by maternity. Other women, young 
and unmarried, resort to the practice to " shield " their 
" honor." A still greater class, maddened by an undesired 
and enforced maternity, seek a supposed relief in feticide. 

Feticide is taking life. No more surely would a woman 
destroy her own flesh and blood if she took her smiling, 
prattling year-old and strangled it while its bright eyes 
looked reproach back into her own. 




\\\0*&& 



The Plan of Fetal Circulation. 

As the lungs of the fetus are dormant, the fetal circulation is a very interesting 
phenomenon. The blood, passing from the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery, 
instead of entering the lungs, passes, almost entirely, through the duct arterios into the 
descending aorta. From here the larger part is conveyed through the umbilical arteries to 
the placenta, where the interchanges with the maternal blood take place. After being thus 
renovated and recharged with oxygen, it collects within the umbilical vein and passes back to 
the fetal liver. Here a part of it circulates through this organ, while the rest passes direct 
through the ductus venosus, into the inferior vena cava, where it again meets the blood brought 
from the liver by the hepatic vein, and the two mixing with that returning from the lower 
extremities and viscera of the abdomen enter the right auricle, and by the Eustachian valve 
pass into the left auricle, where it becomes mixed with a small quantity of blood returning 
from the lungs by the pulmonary veins. From the left auricle it passes into the left ventricle, 
from here into the aorta, from whence it is distributed almost entirely to the upper extremities. 
Descending by the superior vena cava, it enters the right auricle, and from here into the right 
ventricle, and thus completes the circuit. 227 



22 8 FEMINOLOGY. 

Nothing can be said in extenuation of the crime for 
her who does not wish her pleasures curtailed by maternity. 
She may be a church-member, but her spiritual conscious- 
ness has never developed to enable her to realize the full 
grandeur of womanhood, or she could not with impunity 
make herself a red-handed destroyer of life. 

A crusade might well be inaugurated that would instill 
into the minds of men and women the physiology, hygiene, 
duties and obligations of parenthood. Marriageable men 
and women should be encouraged to hear the mighty truths. 
Although the idea of parentage is indissolubly connected 
with conjugal union, young men and women might store 
away kernels of truth to be understood when experience 
unfolded their lives. 

A truly pitiable case is that wherein a woman's finer 
sensibilities have been dulled or deadened through priva- 
tions, suffering, and exhausted physical strength. Many 
feel that they cannot allow children to come only to share 
their poverty and suffering, and add to the burden of care 
already too great to be patiently endured. That to curtail 
the small, undeveloped lives is the least of two evils. Death 
to themselves has ceased to hold any terror in contrast with 
that other ghoulish one, undesired, abhorent maternity. 

False education that impels one woman to tell another 
it is duty to yield the physical body to be desecrated by a 
husband's abnormal passion is the tap-root of this terrible 
evil. 

The same false education instills into husbands that 
indulgence sexually is the end and aim of legal marriage. 



ABORTION; FETICIDE. 229 

To be true, it should instruct that while the privilege of sex- 
association belongs to the marriage relation exclusively, 
it does not give license to indulgence without restraint. 
That once having forced sexual submission upon his wife 
by brute force, threats or persuasion, himself severs the 
link that binds her to duty toward him. Love and reason 
between the pair may overcome a few transgressions of 
this rule, but once let submission become habitual, and all 
the outward ties of the world cannot sanction the continu- 
ance of the union in the light of divine justice. 

The utter uselessness of preaching against feticide to 
women, while encouraging men in the belief that sexual 
gratification is necessary at whatever cost to wife and off- 
spring, should be apparent to all. In the cure of all dis- 
ease, the first step is to remove the cause. To begin at 
the beginning should be to treat that he who so belittles 
manhood as to enforce maternity upon an unwilling wife 
is chief conspirator against the life of both wife and child; 
for very frequently the life of a woman pays the forfeit of 
attempted feticide. 

Henry C. Wright thus addresses his sex : " On whom 
rests the guilt? It is your work. You forced that heavy 
burden upon her, and compelled her to bear it. You thrust 
your child as an intruder into the sacred domain of her 
life, to derive existence through her organism and at her 
expense, knowing that she was not prepared to welcome 
it, and to bend the forces of her nature to its growth and 
support; and contrary, it may be, to her earnest entreaties 
that she might be spared this pain and anguish till she was 



230 FEMINOLOGY. 

ready joyfully to welcome them. But you heeded not her 
prayer; you assumed the right to decide for her when she 
was prepared to endure these trials and under what circum- 
stances she should be a mother. You must have your stated 
gratifications; you have abused your manhood and your 
wife till this indulgence, as you think, has become as 
essential a want of your life as your daily food — as the 
drunkard feels that alcohol is as essential as air to his exist- 
ence and happiness. And so you impose on her a maternity 
which her soul abhors. You horribly tax her vital energies 
without her consent. Murder is in her heart toward the 
uninvited and hated intruder you have introduced into the 
sanctuary of her life." 

Feticide is a twofold crime; a moral crime because it 
destroys human life, and a physiological crime because it 
destroys the mother's health. Motherhood should be the 
crown of womanhood. She is undeveloped who is a wife 
and rejects motherhood entirely and from choice. Mother- 
hood longed for and lovingly accepted, with due paternal 
consideration for the babe's best good, increases health and 
happiness where health has heretofore been normal. While 
feticide breaks down health, and forever after leaves a stain 
upon the conscience of sensitive womanhood. 

Justification of this crime is often attempted in the state- 
ment that an embryo is not a human being until it is born 
and breathes, developing all the essentials of independent 
life. This is only true in the same sense that a child is not 
a man, time for development being the only essential neces- 
sary to effect the change. 



ABORTION; FETICIDE. 231 

Others say there is no life until the period of " quicken- 
ing," which is of course untrue. An embryo has life from 
the moment of conception. A thing without life could 
not grow and develop as do the united germs of the male 
and female human. 

Many and varied methods are resorted to for the destruc- 
tion of unborn infants. Women purposely over-tax them- 
selves at work. Jump from elevations to the hard ground 
to dislodge the embryo. Take long journeys over rough 
roads. 

Medicines extensively advertised to " remove all female 
obstructions " are used for the purpose by many. This is 
the method most harmful, more so than all others combined. 
Painful, often incurable stomach disorders arise from the 
use of poisonous drugs taken for " regulators." The num- 
ber of deaths known to be the result of this practice is so 
large that it ought to deter women from the dangerous risk. 

Instrumental interference is frequently resorted to. A 
physician once called to treat a patient suffering from 
hemorrhage, and upon inquiry was informed that she had 
attempted to relieve herself of a three-months' embryo by 
inserting a common lead pencil into the uterus to dislodge it. 
The mouth of the uterus- was seriously bruised and injured 
by efforts to introduce the instrument. For weeks her life 
was despaired of, despite all remedies and care. She was a 
woman of great respectability, gifted in many ways. Being 
brought to the verge of eternity by her rashness, her soul 
must have awakened to the awfulness of the thing she had 
done. 



232 



FEMINOLOGY. 



Another woman sealed her doom by the use of the brace 
of an umbrella rib. It escaped her reach, was drawn into 
the womb, which it pierced, and passed through the bowels 
into the diaphragm. The post-mortem examination brought 
out these facts. 

Skillful surgery is not to be trusted implicitly to pro- 
duce and carry through this process of thwarting nature. 
Whatever may be the means used, the consequences are seri- 
ous if not dangerous. No woman whose practice is to pro- 
duce habitual miscarriage can ever hope for health. Strength 
and vitality are wasted to such an alarming extent as leave 
the system a prey to all sorts of disease. " The wonder lies 
in the fact that mortality is not greater than is represented," 
says a distinguished writer on this subject. " The only 
reason that can be assigned for this is, that many victims of 
malpractice, foreseeing the danger which they have will- 
ingly, but unwisely incurred, are, later on, attended by 
proper nurses and skilled physicians, who bring to bear all 
the resources of medical science to avert the manifest fatal 
termination. Even under the best treatment, death cannot 
always be prevented ; then it is, that in order to cover up a 
sin and thwart a scandal, the art of concealment is practiced, 
and the world moves on as before." 

For the unmarried woman who, through a loving, trust- 
ing nature, has responded to the persuasions of a supposed 
lover, and conception and desertion ensue, there should be 
only great and comprehensive pity. Perhaps none receive 
less, in all the history of civilization. The Christian world 
is largely made up of the Pharisees who, seeing one wounded 



ABORTION; FETICIDE. 233 

and in need of help and cheer, fold their righteous robes 
about them and " pass by on the other side." It is small 
wonder that the unfortunates seek to destroy the evidences 
of their guilt. 

An incident, given through the newspapers to the public, 
illustrates the lack of sympathy among women as a class for 
those who have fallen beneath the ban of society : A young 
woman who became impregnated under the promise of mar- 
riage, and subsequently deserted, tried to save her reputation 
by destroying her unborn child. Expulsive pains came 
upon her while in the outhouse in connection with her board- 
ing place, and the extreme pain made her cry for help. She 
was discovered by her landlady, and when her condition 
became known was left where she was until an ambulance 
was summoned to remove her to a hospital. A lady boarder 
was asked to collect the sufferer's effects, which she did, and 
threw them out an upper window. Alas, for the scant feel- 
ings of humanity that exists for the betrayed or sinful 
woman, especially if she has never been wedded " by ring 
and book." 

But two wrongs can never make a right ; albeit there is 
rank injustice in placing on a woman's shoulders the burden 
of some one's else licentiousness. Feticide, however, does 
not save virtue, but rather assists to destroy. 

The safe and sure way for an unmarried woman to pro- 
tect herself is never to listen to any proposal or persuasion 
from the opposite sex. That one should so fall from the 
dignity of manhood to ill-conditioned proposals should be 
evidence enough to any bright girl that such a one should 



2 34 FEMINOLOGY. 

not be encouraged as friend, lover, or prospective husband. 
He may fall back on the old and threadbare excuse that he 
was trying or " testing " her virtue. Many a girl has been 
deserted after having been spurned, and told, " If you'd yield 
to me, you'd yield to others." By what logic of right and 
justice may a young man deem himself virtuous and his girl 
associate fallen, in such instances? 

The application of the word virtue in the case of woman 
has only that narrow meaning which, if she is unmarried, 
refers to the fact that she has never known sex union ; or, if 
married, that none but her legal spouse has had sex associa- 
tion, be he never so coarse or unconsiderate. 

In relation to man it usually refers to one who cultivates 
the moral excellencies from choice. Ruskin says, " Virtue 
means not conduct but strength; vital energy of the heart." 
In that sense should it be accepted by all as referring to both 
men and women. Such of both sexes do exist, and through 
such come the light of the world. 

In the sight of the Great Tribunal before which all 
human conduct must be tried, paternal responsibilities must 
be equal to those maternal. But, as Kipling says, — 

"The sin they do by two and two, 
They must pay for one by one." 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 

Nursing. — A mother who chooses to nurse her infant 
must necessarily give up a greater portion of her time to him, 
until he is nine months to a year old. And there must be a 
"rare lack of the mother spirit in one who, while able to supply 
her child's wants, will not do so. As nature has supplied 
sustenance through the mother before birth, there has also 
been made provision after birth, until teething has been 
well begun. The health of woman is increased by the 
function of nursing, if she does not allow her strength 
to be overtaxed by other duties. Occupation should be 
for the purpose of exercise, the mother's business princi- 
pally being the care of her infant. Household duties, aside 
from the drudgery, are agreeable to most women. Exer- 
cise, such as will not overtax the strength, is as necessary 
during the period of nursing as through pregnancy, for 
the health of mother and babe. Proper food, with plenty 
of fresh air, and enough physical exercise to make her 
agreeably tired, will insure a good breast of milk and a 
healthy babe, in consequence. 

Because babes require food more than anything besides 
air, their instinct impels them to carry everything to the 
mouth. But the tiny stomach can only accommodate a 
very small quantity of nourishment at a time. If his mother 

235 



236 FEMINOLOGY. 

can supply him sufficiently, it is the rankest kind of folly 
to introduce any other food into his undeveloped digestive 
apparatus. 

The frequency with which a babe is given the breast 
depends somewhat on the quantity and quality of the milk. 
For the first two or three months, he should not be fed 
oftener than once in an hour and a half, if the milk is 
thin, or once in two hours, if of good quality, during the 
day. And usually three or four times during the night is 
required to satisfy his demands. When he reaches the 
age of five or six weeks, an effort should be made to pro- 
long the intervals at night, that the mother may have her 
rest the more unbroken. 

After the babe reaches the age of three months, he 
should be fed only once in three hours. His body will 
then have grown to the size where the stomach can contain 
enough at one nursing to feed his system for that length 
of time. 

Nothing will so derange a babe's digestion as irregular 
and overfeeding. Some mothers will give the breast for 
every baby trouble. The instant he is noticed to fret, 
he is given the breast. Feeding should be done regularly. 
After considering the time of nursing, should fretfulness 
continue, some other cause than hunger is at work. Very 
frequently the stomach has been overloaded with milk, 
distending it enough to cause discomfort. To give the 
breast again, would but increase the difficulty. Usually 
relief is afforded by vomiting, after which sleep follows. 

If a babe is healthy, and the mother's milk what it 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 237 

should be, quiet and sleep follow nursing, for the greater 
part of the time of its earlier days. But if he is restless, 
the fault probably lies in the mother's having eaten some- 
thing that affects the milk. Raw fruits, as cherries and 
strawberries eaten by the mother sometimes cause colicky 
symptoms, as will acid fluids, like vinegar. In all cases 
where there is tendency to indigestion in the babe, the 
mother should be careful in the choice of her own food. 

In order to prevent a babe from overloading his stom- 
ach, the breast should be partially emptied by means of 
the breast pump before allowing him to nurse; or by with- 
drawing the nipple from his mouth before he is ready to 
relinquish his temporary claim. 

As a rule, only one breast should be used for each 
meal of the child, the breasts being alternately employed. 
But if he is not strong, it will be well to place him first 
on one side and then on the other, thereby enabling him 
to have the richest secretions of the breasts, without much 
exertion. The milk first taken from the breasts is found 
to be richer in quality than that secreted later. 

As a child gets older and more lusty, the secretions 
of both breasts are not too much for a meal. But the 
intervals of nursing are then longer and the tax on the 
mother's strength not so great as would have been in the 
earlier days of maternity. 

After having established regular habits, a mother will 
be able to ascertain how long her infant will sleep after 
nursing, and time her recreation and occupations accord- 
ingly. As pregnant and nursing women, more than all 



238 FEMINOLOGY. 

others, need respite from care, a brisk walk, a shopping 
trip, a friendly call, or ride, may be planned for, while 
the small ruler of the household sleeps. Of course, he 
should never be left alone, for fear " something might 
happen." A mother once put her infant to sleep and to 
bed, laying it on its back, and left it for some time alone. 
On her return, she found it had strangled from throwing 
up its milk, and being unable to empty its mouth. A babe 
should be placed on its side to sleep. Although, if habitu- 
ally placed in one position, deformity results. 

It is not uncommon, where sleeping accommodations 
are limited, for father, mother, and babe to occupy one 
bed. The child, for greater safety from overlying or suffo- 
cation, is placed at the side of the mother farthest from the 
husband. In this position it frequently lies all night on 
the arm of its mother, without change. The bones being 
soft and pliable, readily yield to the pressure on one side, 
and the contour of head and face becomes flattened at 
one side. If at one time a babe is laid to rest on the right 
side, the next time he may be turned on the left. Often 
it will prolong his sleep, when signs of awakening occur, 
to change position, and cuddle him for an instant. 

Influence of Diet, Drink, Medicines, Etc., on Milk. — 
" Every physiologist is aware of the change produced in 
the property of mother's milk by the nature, as well as 
by the quantity, of food habitually taken," says Condie. 
" Too much or too little food, a too stimulating diet, the 
use of vinous or distilled liquors, more especially if taken 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 239 

in excess, and articles of food difficult of digestion, cannot 
fail to affect the secretion of milk, and render the latter 
unfit for the nourishment of the infant who partakes of 
it. Milk thus deteriorated will very generally produce irri- 
tation of the infant's stomach and all the symptoms of 
indigestion." 

Some persons consider that a nursing mother may choose 
any kind and quantity of food with impunity. But as 
milk is derived from the blood, and the blood from food 
and drink, different kinds and qualities of food must affect 
differently. As an illustration, cow's milk is sweet and 
pleasant to the taste when the animal is confined to a simple 
diet of grass, corn, and fodder, with plenty of good water. 
But it becomes intolerable if she is allowed to eat onions, 
rutabagas, and the like. 

A babe fed from mother or wet nurse who lives grossly, 
is liable to skin diseases or other complaints, which, because 
of the quality of the child's nourishment, are the more 
difficult to' overcome. 

The use of fermented drinks to increase the flow of 
milk may have that effect, but it is at the expense of 
quality. A child may seem to thrive for a time, but there 
will be more difficulty in keeping him well, than with one 
whose food is pure. Speaking of skin disease, Dr. Tracy 
says, " One of the worst cases I ever saw was caused in 
this way: The mother drank porter and ale, one or both, 
freely, while nursing. The child grew very fast and very 
fat, but such a sight as it afterward presented I never wish 
to see again." 



240 FEMINOLOGY. 

In the case of Mrs. Rowbotham, whose husband gave 
to the world the result of an experiment on diet before 
birth, Mr. Rowbotham says, " The diet of his mother was 
immediately changed (after birth), and she ate bread and 
milk, and all articles of food in which phosphate of lime 
is to be found, and which had been left out before." 

Medicines should be avoided as much as possible during 
the period of nursing. Oftentimes a cathartic taken for 
constipation purges the babe, while the mother's condition 
is not affected. Dr. Pancoast says, " Medicines and various 
articles of food have been detected in the milk a few min- 
utes after they had been taken into the stomach. Coloring 
matter, turpentine, garlic, nitrate of potash, and other salts, 
have been thus discovered. It is of the utmost importance 
for mothers and nurses to know this fact; for a purgative 
or narcotic is apt to affect the child more powerfully than 
the mother. There are cases on record showing that power- 
ful doses of medicines taken by the mother have either 
jeopardized or destroyed the life of the child." 

For a nursing mother, nothing will better assist in 
overcoming constipation than to use brown bread instead 
of white. Figs, stewed prunes, and stewed rhubarb are 
excellent as laxatives. 

Menstruation, while a babe nurses, is said to have a 
deteriorating effect on the milk. As a rule, the monthly 
discharge is suspended after delivery, until the babe is eight 
or ten months old. When it reappears, a noticeable dimi- 
nution in the quantity and quality of the milk is usually 
to be observed. Artificial feeding should then be com- 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 241 

menced, to gradually wean the child from the mother. 
As an exception to the rule, some women begin menstru- 
ating in a month or six weeks after parturition, and continue 
regularly, without a noticeable change in the milk supply. 
In case where the milk is found to disagree with the child, 
the mother should strive to> improve her own health. If 
that is not a question of a few days, the babe would better 
receive other nourishment, because a young child gets ill 
or well quickly. 

Influence of Mental States. — Sir Ashley Cooper remarks 
that " the secretion of milk proceeds from a tranquil state of 
the mind. With a cheerful temper, the milk is regularly 
abundant and agrees well with the child. On the contrary, 
a fretful temper lessens the quantity of milk, makes it thin 
and serous, and causes it to disturb the child's bowels, pro- 
ducing intestinal fevers, and much griping. Fits of anger 
produce a very irritating milk, followed by griping in the 
infant, with green stools. Grief has a great influence on 
lactation, and consequently on the child. The loss of a 
near and dear relative, or change of fortune, will often 
so much diminish the secretion of milk as to render 
adventitious aid necessary for the support of the child. 
Anxiety of mind diminishes the quantity, and alters the 
quality of the milk. The reception of a letter which 
leaves the mind in a state of suspense, lessens the draught, 
and the breasts become empty. If the child be ill, and 
the mother be anxious concerning it, she complains to 
her medical attendant that she has little milk, and that 
16 



242 FEMINOLOGY. 

her infant is griped, and has frequent green and frothy 
stools. Fear has a powerful influence on the secretion of 
milk. It is well known by physicians who practice among 
the poor, that the apprehension of the brutal conduct of 
a drunken husband will put a stop for a time to the secre- 
tion of milk. When this happens, the breasts feel flaccid, 
from the absence of milk, and that which is secreted is 
highly irritating, and some time elapses before a healthy 
secretion returns. 

Terror which is sudden, and great fear, instantly stops 
the secretion. A nurse was hired, and in the morning she 
had abundance of milk; but, having to go fifty miles to 
the place where the parents of the child resided, in a com- 
mon diligence, the horses proved restive, and the passen- 
gers were in much danger. When the nurse, who had 
been greatly frightened, arrived at her place at the end of 
the journey, the milk had entirely disappeared. The secre- 
tions could not be reproduced, although she was stimulated 
by spirits, medicine, and the best local application a medical 
man could suggest. 

"A lady, in excellent health and a good nurse, was over- 
turned in her pony-chaise ; when she returned home, greatly 
alarmed, she had no milk ; nor did it return, and she was 
obliged to wean her child." 

Dr. Cowan notes a case as follows : "I have known 
one instance, in which a mother, after a violent altercation 
with a neighbor, immediately after gave suck to her infant. 
The child had not been at the breast but a short time, when 
it went into violent convulsions, and, for a time, it had 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 243 

every appearance of dying. If it had died, there need 
have been no great surprise expressed thereat. It is well 
known that men have died in a passion. And the same 
greatly unbalanced and disordered state of the nervous 
system of the mother, acquired during a l fit of passion,' 
transmitted through the medium of her milk to the deli- 
cate organism of her child, would bring on premature death, 
or greatly help to do so." 

Dr. Seguin mentions Mrs. M., who " came out of a ball- 
room, and nursed her well babe, which was taken with 
spasms two hours after, and has since been a confirmed 
epileptic idiot." 

A well-known author says, " My advice to mothers 
has always been, never to nurse a child while under the 
influence of mental excitements of any kind, particularly 
when they have lost children by nursing. I have long 
been satisfied that a chief cause of the excessive mortality 
of children under two years, is owing to the mental emo- 
tions of the mother — even more so than in that of teeth- 
ing, usually considered the main cause of infantile mor- 
tality." 

While performing heavy labor, a nursing mother must 
rest for some time, before the regular time for the infant's 
meal. Washing, gardening, sweeping, kneading dough, 
anything that taxes the strength, should be followed by 
a period of rest before a babe is allowed to nurse, even 
though his cries be lusty and expressive of disapproval. 
Returning from a brisk walk or ride, a mother should seek 
repose for a few minutes, before taking the babe. 



244 FEMINOLOGY. 

The great secret of being a good nurse consists in 
keeping both mother and babe well, through observing 
the laws of health. The period of nursing is the only time 
remaining after birth that a mother can, through herself, 
influence the development and perfection of her child's soul 
and body. When he is weaned, his own five senses must 
bring to him all further equipment for the journey of life. 

Artificial Feeding. — If there are reasons why a mother 
cannot nurse her babe, other means of nourishment must be 
employed. 

There are numerous prepared foods manufactured for 
infants, which, if they but agree with a child, will nourish 
and cause it to thrive. 

Cream, reduced one-half and slightly sweetened, closely 
resembles mother's milk, and is a tolerable substitute. 

" Let new milk stand from four to six hours, take the 
top off, reduce it one half with hot water; to one pint add 
one teaspoonful of sugar and one grain of phosphate of 
lime." 

Until there are teeth to masticate solid food, it should 
not be given. The digestion is impaired by unsuitable 
food. Saliva, necessary to digestion of solid food, can 
only be added in the process of chewing, which a toothless 
infant is not able to do until he is considerably past the 
year mile-post. 

When he is four or five months old, oatmeal gruel, 
strained through cheese-cloth, may be added to his diluted 
cream, also thin graham gruel. 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 245 

A babe can be taught at once to take its feed from a 
spoon, just as the farmers train their calves to* drink milk, 
instead of taking it from the mothers. The only objec- 
tionable point to feeding from a spoon is the time it takes 
from other duties. But the rubber nipple, through which 
it is customary to allow a babe to draw its feed from a 
bottle, is an objectionable article in the best form it can be 
prepared. Besides, the extreme difficulty of keeping bot- 
tles, tubes, and nipples clean, renders the spoon method the 
safest, surest way of preserving the health of hand-fed 
children. 

Prepared foods are meant to> imitate as closely as pos- 
sible the human milk. Once a preparation is seen to agree 
with a babe and causes it to thrive, nothing else should be 
introduced into its stomach, but pure water occasionally. 
One pint of prepared food, or sufficient for twenty-four 
hours' use, may be made ready at one time, if kept in a 
pure, clean, cool place, as follows : — 

Milk 2 ounces. 

Cream 3 ounces. 

Water 10 ounces. 

Milk sugar 6j4 drams. 

Put in flask in steamer and steam for twenty minutes ; then 
remove the flask from steamer, and when slightly warm, 
add lime water, one ounce. Place on ice and give the proper 
amount at the proper feeding time, warming the quantity 
of the mixture used in hot water, before giving it to the 
baby. (Rotch.) 



246 FEMINOLOGY. 

The purpose of steaming is to destroy any germs with 
which the milk may have become contaminated by exposure 
to the atmosphere. 

All artificial food should be warmed to the tempera- 
ture corresponding with that of the body (98.6°), before 
being given to a child; and only enough for one meal 
should be prepared at one time, unless sterilized. A simple 
method of knowing the temperature is always to taste the 
preparation before administering. What is slightly more 
than lukewarm to an adult will be about right for an 
infant. The amount of diluted milk, or cream, to be given 
at one time will vary according to the hardihood of the 
child; some demand more than others. It is estimated that 
the average amount of milk taken from a mother is about 
an ounce and a half at one nursing. But, as cow's milk 
must be very much diluted to make it digestible for a child, 
it will require more of the dilution to equal the nutritious 
value of mother's milk. A good one third of a teacupful 
should be prepared at one time, and all of it fed, if the 
child will take it. When the babe reaches the age of six 
weeks, it will be well to begin to lessen the amount of water 
used, until it equals one third or one fourth the whole quan- 
tity. When at the age of three months, a healthy child will 
not require feed oftener than every three hours, through the 
day, and only once or twice through the night. And it 
should take a half -cupful at one meal, or a pint of the pure 
nutrition in the twenty-four hours. 

Care should be taken to procure milk from a healthy 
cow, — one that is well cared for, — and, if possible, not to 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 247 

change from one cow to another, until the child is able 
to take solid food. 

Young life is always delicate, needing more care and 
loving watchfulness the first months, even the first two or 
three years, than thereafter. Nothing is so full of the beau- 
tiful possibilities of life as a newborn babe, and nothing 
throughout all nature so perfectly helpless in itself. The 
earlier the care is bestowed the better, beginning it well 
along before birth. Young stock well cared for the first 
winter, is able to stand neglect later; although successful 
'stock-raisers do not make a practice of neglecting their 
animals. 

It is said that one tenth of the babies born die before 
they are a month old, and that one half die before reach- 
ing the age of two. These frightful figures can be changed 
when only such children as are desired are conceived, and 
the right kind of prenatal culture given them. 

When the babe nurses from its mother, and receives an 
insufficient supply, artificial feeding may be added to ful- 
fill his requirements. If he nurses all from both breasts 
at one meal, at the next period he may be given the diluted 
cream, before mentioned. So that, if he has a meal every 
two hours, the mother has four hours in which to secrete 
his supply. While there is nothing so suitable as mother's 
milk, an infant should not be allowed to go hungry if his 
mother cannot furnish sufficient to cause him to thrive. 

The mother who has some nourishment is enabled to 
care for her infant at night, obviating the necessity of get- 
ting out of bed to prepare feed, so unpleasant to all. 



248 FEMINOLOGY. 

When a babe is seven or eight months old, it may be fed 
a simple pudding of cornstarch or arrowroot, and rice. 
These are valuable additions to diet, if a child is inclined 
to be thin. 

Weaning. — It is said that woman should nurse her 
child no longer than she has carried him — nine months. 
Of this Dr. Farr said, " It is generally recognized that the 
healthiest children are those weaned at nine months. Pro- 
longed nursing hurts both child and mother; in the child, 
causing a tendency to brain disease, probably through dis- 
ordered digestion and nutrition; in the mother, causing a 
strong tendency to deafness and blindness." 

The health of mother and babe has a great deal to do 
with determining the time of weaning. If the mother 
be strong, and the child at her breast thrives, nursing may 
be prolonged till the babe is a year old, but not longer, 
without deteriorating effects. But if the mother is in deli- 
cate health, her milk may do more harm than good, before 
that time. 

Weaning is best to be accomplished gradually. This 
plan is easy, too, when regularity has been observed in 
nursing. At whatever time begun, the process may be 
over in three or four weeks, if the food substituted for 
the breast agrees with the child. 

At the age of eight months, a babe will have been 
taught to receive the breast once in four hours. In the 
early morning — say, at five o'clock — he will clamor for 
nourishment. It is then given him, and at nine a. m., one 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 249 

p. M., five p. M., and nine p. m., making five meals a day, 
with possibly one through the night. After nursing him 
at five a. m., some prepared food may be given him at 
nine a. m., and again at five p. m., to begin the process of 
weaning. For a week this may be observed; and then for 
the second week, the artificial food may be given at nine 
A. m., one and five p. m. The next week, withhold the 
breast entirely through the day, allowing him to' feed once 
or twice through the night. At the end of the month the 
breast may be withdrawn entirely. 

Some babes are inclined to refuse all liquid nourishment 
except the breast, while seeming eager for solid food. It 
will be well to give them rice, or graham gruel with milk; 
each day, more milk may be added till a taste for it is 
acquired. 

Sudden weaning is never desirable, unless a change in 
the mother's health makes it necessary, as an attack of 
contagious disease. 

Diet After Weaning. — It will be remembered that a 
child is nourished, not by the food that he swallows, but by 
the amount digested. So the best diet is that which is 
digested and absorbed. Carefully observing the passages 
will inform the mother as to whether or not her child's food 
is benefiting him. Unless there is a perfectly trustworthy 
nurse, a mother should make it her object to examine the 
child's excretions daily, especially if there is doubt as to the 
value of its food. 

Food not well digested, passing through the alimen- 



250 FEMINOLOGY. 

tary tract, has a weakening effect. Such, administered be- 
cause it has nourishing properties, should be withdrawn, 
when the system is seen to reject it. 

Dietary for Infants Weaned at Nine Months, Allowing 
Five Meals a Day {Dr. Louis Starr). — First meal, at 7 
a. m. : Milk, twelve tablespoonfuls ; cream, one tablespoon- 
f ul ; milk sugar, one teaspoonf ul ; water, three tablespoonfuls. 

Second meal, at 10: 30 a. m. : Milk, cream, and water, 
in the same proportion; Mellin's Food, two teaspoonfuls 
dissolved in the water which must be hot. Mix with the 
cream and milk. 

Third meal at 2 p. m. : Same as second. 

Fourth meal, at 6 p. m. : Same as second. 

Fifth meal, at 10 p. m. : Same as first. 

From the tenth to the fourteenth month, the dietary 
may be enlarged. 

For the first meal at 7 a. m. : Milk, fifteen tablespoon- 
fuls; cream, one tablespoonf ul ; Mellin's Food, one table- 
spoonful ; water, three tablespoonfuls. 

Second Meal, at 10 : 30 a. m. : A breakfast-cupful of 
warm milk. 

Third meal, at 2 p. m. : The yolk of an egg boiled 
with bread crumbs, alternated with a teacupful of beef, 
mutton, or chicken broth, containing a few bread crumbs. 

Fourth meal, at 6 p. m. : Same as first. 

Fifth meal, at 10 p. m. : Same as second. 

If there should be diarrhea, boiling makes the milk 
more tolerable. 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 251 

From the fourteenth to the eighteenth month, the five 
meals a day are continued. 

First meal : A slice of stale bread, broken and soaked 
in a breakfast cup of new milk. 

Second meal : A teacupful of milk, with a thin slice of 
buttered bread. 

Third meal : A teacupful of meat broth, with a slice of 
bread. One good tablespoonful of rice-and-milk pudding. 

Fourth meal : Same as first. 

Fifth meal: One tablespoonful of Mellin's Food, with 
a breakfast-cupful of milk. 

The above may be alternated with the following : — 

First meal: The yolk of an egg lightly boiled, with 
bread crumbs; a teacupful of new milk. 

Second meal : A teacupful of milk, with a thin slice of 
buttered bread. 

Third meal : A mashed baked potato, moistened with 
four tablespoonfuls of beef tea ; two good tablespoonfuls of 
junket. (Junket is milk prepared as follows : heat one pint 
of milk to a temperature that can be borne in the mouth. 
While stirring gently, add two teaspoonfuls of essence 
of pepsin. Allow to stand until firmly curdled, and serve 
with sugar and cream.) 

Diet from eighteen months to the end of two and a 
half years, with four meals a day, as follows : — 

First meal: A breakfast-cupful of new milk; the yolk 
of an egg lightly boiled ; two thin slices of bread and butter. 

Second meal : A teacupful of milk, with a soda biscuit. 

Third meal: A breakfast-cupful of beef tea, mutton or 



252 FEMINOLOGY. 

chicken broth ; a thin slice of stale bread ; a saucer of rice- 
and-milk pudding. 

Fourth meal: A breakfast-cupful of milk, with a slice 
of bread and butter. 

The above may be alternated with the following : — 

First meal : two tablespoonfuls of thoroughly cooked 
oatmeal or wheaten grits with sugar and cream; a teacup- 
ful of new milk. 

Second meal : A teacupful of milk, with a slice of bread 
and butter. 

Third meal : One tablespoonful of underdone mutton 
pounded to a paste; bread and butter, or mashed baked 
potato, moistened with good, plain dish gravy; a saucer of 
junket. 

Fourth meal: A breakfast-cupful of milk; a slice of 
soft milk toast, or slice or two of bread and butter. 

The foregoing, of course, may serve as a guide on an 
average. So long as a child thrives on milk, he should not 
be induced to take other food. Milk is always best when 
it agrees with a child. And at whatever age during child- 
hood, he should never receive less than a pint of full milk 
daily. 

The demand for water increases with years. All a child 
wants will never be too much, provided, always, the water 
is pure. 

A child's digestive apparatus is not in condition to 
receive a mixed diet until the teeth are well developed. 
And, throughout the growing period, indeed throughout 
life, simple, nourishing food will furnish ample sustenance 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 253 

for the body, without pastries, meats, and confections, 
except on rare occasions. A child simply raised will be 
able to partake but lightly of pies, cakes, and puddings; 
his stomach will rebel in time to save him from sickening. 

Meat has no place in the child's diet, until its eighth 
year, and should be partaken of sparingly until the four- 
teenth year. Eaten in quantity, it produces in children a 
quarrelsome and vicious disposition. 

Nuts, sparingly used, will furnish oil to the system, and 
children will be satisfied and, physically, better off. A 
little salt should be taken with the nuts. 

Crying. — A cry is the language of babyhood, and moth- 
ers, by attention, easily learn to interpret. He cries when 
he is mad, and cries when he is sad ; discomfort brings tears, 
pain brings tears, hunger brings tears. And if his mother 
was peevish and unhappy while pregnant, he will weep 
in consequence. 

If there is no abdominal rupture, crying is not inju- 
rious. On the contrary, it expands the lungs, and at the 
same time is a vent for surcharged feelings. As adults, 
women especially, are relieved by a flood of tears, so a 
babe, after a lusty vocal exercise, will snuggle down and 
be much better contented than before. 

But crying, oft repeated or long continued, indicates 
some disorder or discomfort that must be looked into. If 
it is time for food, feed the child, and crying ceases. If 
his diaper is wet and soiled, put on a fresh one. If he is 
cold, perhaps it has induced colic; in which case, to warm 



254 FEMINOLOGY. 

his feet, rubbing his abdomen with the hand moistened 
with sweet oil, will usually overcome the crying. 

" Incessant, unappeasable crying is usually due to ear- 
ache or hunger; it frequently, too, is caused by the con- 
stant pricking of a badly adjusted safety pin, or other 
mechanical irritant. 

" If crying occur during an attack of coughing, it is 
an indication of some painful affection of the chest; if just 
before or after an evacuation of the bowels, of intestinal 
pain. 

" When a cry has a nasal tone, it should suggest swell- 
ing of the lining membrane of the nose, or other obstructing 
condition. Thickening and indistinctness occur with throat 
affections. A loud, brazen cry is a precursor of spasmodic 
croup, and a faint, whispering cry of true or membranous 
croup. Hoarseness points to disease of the lining mem- 
brane of the larynx, either catarrhal or syphilitic in nature. 

" Finally, an unwillingness to cry can be seen in pneu- 
monia and pleurisy, when the disease is severe enough to 
interfere materially with breathing. 

" Tear secretion having been established the third 
month, it is a bad omen if the secretion be arrested during 
the progress of an illness, but an equally good one if there 
be no suppression, or if there be a re-establishment after 
suppression." — Dr. Starr. 

Care of the Breasts. — Once the breast has been taken 
from the babe, it should not be drawn, as the secretions 
would be encouraged to further efforts; whereat the object 



THE MOTHER IN RELATION TO THE CHILD. 255 

at this time is to arrest it. No matter how uncomfortable 
the breasts may become, they should not be emptied. The 
habit of drawing the milk after weaning, has been known 
to cause a " caked " or gathered breast, which rarely, or 
never, occurs when it is not done. 

" The best way of ' drying up the milk/ " says Cha- 
vasse, " is to apply to each breast soap plaster spread on 
pieces of wash leather the shape and size of the top of a 
hat, with a round hole the size of a quarter in the middle 
of each, to admit the nipple ; and with a slit from the center 
to the circumference of each plaster to make a better fit. 
These plasters ought to be spread by a druggist." 

When the weaning has been gradual, or, rather, while 
weaning is in progress, as before mentioned, to rub the 
breasts daily with camphorated oil, will diminish the secre- 
tions. 

Sometimes the milk is present for weeks, before it 
entirely leaves. But if it produces no discomfort, it requires 
no treatment whatever. 

During the process of weaning, a mother should avoid 
rich viands and all kinds of stimulants; thus giving her 
system the better chance to return to the state existing 
before pregnancy. She should never be so imprudent as 
to allow the babe to return to the breast. It would brine 
on digestive disorders for the child, and be injurious to 
herself as well. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 

The science of hygiene has a most extensive scope, the 
personal care of health being but one division. Besides 
that, it includes those subjects which concern the external 
man; the climate; the soil upon which his dwelling is 
placed; the character, materials, and arrangement of his 
dwelling; the disposal of garbage, slops, and all effete 
matter. Also the prevention of disease, the care of the 
sick, the management of infancy, etc. 

It is the work of scientists to discover the relation of 
hygiene to all phases of life; but is the duty of all adult 
individuals to keep pace with the times, by acquainting 
themselves with the underlying principles of the art of pre- 
serving and improving health for themselves, and children 
present or possible. 

With relation to the personal care of the body, the 
essential considerations are, cleanliness of body and apparel ; 
pure food, regularly administered; pure water; sleep, exer- 
cise, recreation, and abundance of pure air and sunlight. 

The object of hygiene is to obtain the best conditions 
for development, from the moment of birth. It is the con- 
cern of the nation, as of the individual. The subject has 
engaged much of the best thought, from the oldest cul- 
tured races down to the present. In the Dark Ages, when 
256 










A SPOILED PET. 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 257 

it seemed the whole world was scourged with epidemic 
diseases, the Hebrews were exempt in proportion as they 
adhered to the Mosaic laws which gave minute instructions 
as to care in diet and drink, to cleanliness, and to isolation 
of the sick. 

Although the causes of disease have been widely studied, 
and many successfully combated, there yet remains much 
to be done to improve the general character of health. In 
the public schools the laws of health are made known to 
children. But often, probably in the great majority of 
cases, at home the parents lack opportunity to put in prac- 
tice enough of the principles of hygiene to insure health. 
In the crowded city tenements, air, the prime necessity of 
life, is at a premium. In the country, among those laborers 
who must toil to the last notch of endurance for the barest 
necessities of life, the situation is scarcely better. They 
have no time to think of, or to put in practice, the simple 
rules for cleansing and caring specially for the individual, 
beyond the clamoring appetite. It is only when the body 
is felt to be the temple, and not the prison, of the soul, 
that regard for its care is manifested. 

Through the reign of widespread ignorance, and the 
realm of limited opportunity, diseased conditions have been 
fastened upon generations, present and to come. 

The foundations for health are, of course, begun with 
ancestry. Before birth, the mother has great power to 
influence toward best conditions. Throughout infancy and 
childhood, her constant care and watchfulness are needed 
to perfect even the best prenatal conditions. The hardiest 
17 



258 FEMINOLOGY. 

infant must have a certain amount of care before it can 
thrive. 

Upon beginning a separate existence from the mother, 
the very first requirement is warmth, to keep up the vitality 
of the body. This is supplied by wraps and clothing. 

The clothing of a child should be as light as possible 
to be consistent with warmth. Children are almost with- 
out power to resist the ill effects of chilling, and need to 
be guarded. All garments must be loose enough not to 
hinder perfect action of the internal organs, or freedom 
of movement. 

For a newborn babe, flannel or merino are the best 
materials for clothing, the number of garments worn at 
once depending on the season during which the birth occurs. 
The child born in the late spring or summer, in the tem- 
perate climate, must be supplied with light-weight gar- 
ments of flannel or merino, next the body. The first toilet 
may consist of a merino shirt; a flannel pinning blanket, 
made with tapes over the arms and in front of the band; 
the band to hold the navel dressing in place; the diaper; 
and the nightgown. The pinning blanket was used more 
extensively by past generations of mothers than those of 
the present. Its use is decried by many physicians, who 
are finding fault with its abuse. It simply consists of a 
width of soft flannel, double the length of the body, gath- 
ered on a band in the way a petticoat is made; hemmed 
at the sides and bottom; and is fastened in front. Its 
abuse comes from fastening it so tight as to interfere with 
the movements and functions of the body. When a babe 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 



259 



is dressed, the flannel is folded over the legs and abdomen, 
and protects the lower extremities during the earliest weeks 
of life. It should be discontinued after three or four 
months, and stockings and knitted boots be substituted. 

Those mothers who do not keep the baby wardrobes 
intact for the possible next one, make the pinning blankets 
into extra short skirts, for the creeping period. 

The practice of making an infant's first skirts long is 
not to be commended. Long skirts are burdensome to 
the tiny body. At birth, the average babe is eighteen 
inches in length; and his skirts should not be made more 
than six to eight inches longer. 

Dr. L. C. Grosvenor recommends an infant outfit which 
he has named the " Gertrude Baby Suit." 

" The undergarment should be made of nice, fleecy 
goods, — canton flannel is the best we have at present, — 
cut princess, reaching from the neck to ten inches below 
the feet, with sleeves to the wrists, and having all the 
seams smooth, and the hems upon the outside; a tie and 
button behind. Here you have a complete fleece-lined gar- 
ment, comfortable and healthful, and one that can be washed 
without shrinking. The next garment is made of baby 
flannel (woolen), also cut princess, same pattern, only one- 
half inch larger, reaching from the neck to twelve or four- 
teen inches below the feet — to cover the other — with gen- 
erous armholes pinked or scalloped, but not bound, and with 
two buttons behind at the neck, and may be embroidered 
at pleasure. The dress cut princess to match the other gar- 
ments, is preferable. 



260 FEMINOLOGY. 

" Now these garments are put together before dressing 
— sleeve within sleeve — and then put over the little one's 
head at once, and buttoned behind, and the baby is dressed, 
there being but one pin — a diaper pin. 

" The main advantages of this method are : — 

" i. Perfect freedom to all thoracic, abdominal, and 
pelvic organs. 

" 2. That all the clothing shall hang from the shoulders. 

" 3. The greatest saving of time and strength of the 
mother in caring for the babe. 

" 4. The resulting health and comfort of the child. 

"5. The evenness of the covering of the body, there 
being the same covering over the shoulders as elsewhere." 

Diapers are always provided to receive the discharges 
from bowels and bladder. Care must always be used to see 
that the pin point is well guarded to insure against the pricks 
from which many an infant is made to suffer. Diapers may 
be either of linen or cotton; linen being preferable on 
account of less liability to chafing when wet. An abun- 
dant supply should be provided so that each one soiled may 
be sent to the laundry. 

The thin rubber diaper intended to protect the body 
clothing from damp is harmful to the child, and should 
never be used. It conceals the need of attention; and the 
tender flesh becomes chafed and overheated by the anti- 
porous condition of the covering. As soon as a child may be 
trusted to make known the calls of nature, the diapers may 
be abandoned for drawers. The age at which this is pos- 
sible depends upon the skill of mother or nurse in training. 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 261 

The body clothing should be as free from pins through- 
out as is possible. The Gertrude Suit does away with them. 
But if the taste should call for something else, it should be 
remembered that the requirements to be observed are 
warmth, lightness, looseness, and freedom from pins. 

The period of " shortening " baby's skirts must depend 
somewhat on the season of the year. The earlier the change is 
made, the better use does he have of his legs, and the sooner 
learns to control them. It should not be deferred longer 
than the sixth month.; between the third and the sixth 
months is probably the best time. The stockings to be worn 
thereafter should be long enough to come over the knee; 
these are fastened to the diaper by means of safety pins until 
drawers are worn. After that they should be supported by 
the elastic suspenders which fasten from the stockings to 
an underwaist. A hose supporter which passes over the 
shoulders in the manner of a brace is liked by many mothers. 

The first shoes are best to be of the knitted or crocheted 
wool, these being warm and light, and in no way com- 
pressing the foot. Before walking is attempted, the soft kid 
sandals are nice. When a child is able to walk, the shoe 
should be broad at the toe, snug about the heel and instep, 
and are better to be laced than buttoned. 

Frequent changes of clothing are an imperative need. 
In earliest infancy the undergarments need not be changed 
oftener than each alternate day unless soiled by discharges. 
The outside slip needs daily changing, as the babe is always 
more or less soiled from the day's handling. 

When a babe is old enough to play, he will frequently 



262 FEMINOLOGY. 

need a fresh frock more than once a day. Clean garments, 
well made, and inexpensive, should always be at hand for all 
except ceremonial occasions, when elaborate robes may be 
used. A clean child is always lovely, while " a dirty child 
is its mother's disgrace." Filth is not forgivable in any 
form. It is not necessary that mothers should go to the 
extreme of watching and worrying their offspring to keep 
them immaculate. Indeed the widest range of liberty con- 
sistent with welfare is best by far. But there is a vast differ- 
ence between the grime that comes from play, and the rancid 
impurity that saturates unchanged garments from unwashed 
bodies. One is " healthy dirt; " the other disease-breeding 
foulness. 

All clothing worn through the day should be removed 
at night. The night apparel may be a wool shirt, light or 
heavy according to the season, and a flannel gown, or the 
long, loose, combination waist and drawers made with feet, 
for a child who can walk. If the gown is worn, it should 
be made with a draw-string at the bottom to close over the 
feet in cold weather. 

In warm weather the child may go out of doors without 
wraps, but the head should be protected from the rays of 
the sun. In winter, however, he must be well protected 
by warm leggings, which come to the waist, up to the age 
of three or four years. A long cloak, a close-fitting, thick 
cap, and woolen mittens complete the extra clothing. They 
should not be put on until the child is ready to start, lest 
he be overheated before starting, and chilled thereafter; 
and should be removed at once upon returning to the house. 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 263 

The winter undergarments should never be changed for 
those of summer until the warm weather has surely come. 
The outer clothing may be adjusted to the first warm days 
of spring, but the winter flannels should not be left off at 
the first suggestion of summer. 

Food has a direct influence upon the health of an indi- 
vidual from the earliest stage of life to> its close. The body 
is made up of what is taken into the stomach ; and different 
stages of life, as well as different occupations, require food 
suited to them. The muscle worker and the brain worker 
cannot use the same food with the same result ; each requires 
an element suited to his phase of employment. The infant 
and youth do not need, and cannot assimilate, the same food 
as adults. Hence, a proper knowledge of relative food 
values is essential to all mothers and nurses. 

As before stated, the food of infants should be milk 
exclusively for some months. The mother's milk is pref- 
erable first, as no prepared food can give the same amount 
of nourishment with the same proportion of digestibility. 
If the quantity is insufficient, a close imitation can be made 
to supplement the breast milk; or substitute entirely when 
reasons exist for withholding the breast. At no period in 
life does proper diet have so great an influence as in baby- 
hood. At that time perfect digestion is either made or 
marred ; and without good digestion the body must always 
suffer more or less. Not before dentition is well established 
is the system prepared for other than liquid nourishment. 

Special attention must be given to the effect of new food 
upon the digestive organs of an infant. Vomiting or 



264 FEMINOLOGY. 

diarrhea are always evidence that the nourishment is not 
taken up by the system. 

In the transition through childhood the nourishment 
given must be of the kind which not only sustains life and 
health, but provides material for the growth of the body. 
Up to puberty food is required more frequently than by 
adults. From infancy there should be at least four meals 
a day. When allowed but the same number of meals as 
older members of the family, children will be almost cer- 
tain to overload the stomach, which will induce as serious 
disorders as irregular feeding. 

All highly seasoned food should be excluded from the 
diet of a growing child ; and no condiment but salt allowed. 
Tea, coffee, beer, or wine should not be given. The habitual 
consumption of anything that stimulates is far from being 
good for a child. It tends to hasten the crisis of puberty, 
or stunt the growth ; and accustoms the child to the artificial 
sensations induced by stimulants, all of which it is desirable 
to avoid. 

The best drink is pure water, and milk the staple article 
of food. 

Milk is made more digestible by the addition of warm 
water, two or three tablespoonfuls to the pint. Water is 
the principal medium by which nutriment is carried through 
the absorbent membrane of the digestive canal, and is also 
laxative to the bowels. Milk, containing, as it does, every 
ingredient necessary for the nutrition of the body, can hardly 
be administered too freely. It is usually acceptable to a 
child as a beverage; when it is not, it may be given in the 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 265 

shape of simple pudding, or with rice or oatmeal. Full 
milk or diluted cream is preferable to skim milk, the latter 
being too poor in fat-producing elements. Where there is a 
strong liking for bread and milk, the white bread should be 
sparingly given; instead, use the bread made from entire 
wheat flour. With the milk slightly diluted, and graham 
bread used in abundance, there will be no constipation in the 
nursery. 

As with grown folks, the diet of growing children should 
be varied ; not only that the appetite should not be wearied 
by sameness, but that the body be furnished with the dif- 
ferent food principles necessary to its upbuilding. 

The food principles necessary for sustaining life and 
health, are water, proteids, fats, carbohydrates, and salts. 
The due proportion of each cannot be furnished in a one- 
sided diet, chiefly animal or vegetable, but in intelligent com- 
binations. 

There can hardly be too much pure water taken into the 
system, but there can be too little. It assists digestion and 
elimination. Each child should be taught to take a whole- 
some draught of water the first thing in the morning, and 
at night before retiring unless there is a tendency to incon- 
tinence of urine. 

If any suspicion exists as to the purity of drinking water, 
it should be filtered or boiled. During epidemic disease this 
is a wise precaution, as germs are readily carried by water, 
which are destroyed by exposure to heat. 

Children are peculiarly liable to be affected by impure 
water. Their sensitive systems absorb fluids quickly, and 



266 FEMINOLOGY. 

are often affected by poisonous conditions which do not 
appear to injure the adult members of the family. 

The proteids, or albumins, are the great body builders 
or restorers. They are familiar to the housewife in the 
form of cheese, eggs, lean meat, and milk. In connection 
with the fats and carbohydrates it assists in other offices. 

The fats come chiefly from the animal kingdom in the 
form of butter, lard, and tallow, although the vegetable 
kingdom contributes oil of different kinds. Many house- 
wives prefer olive oil, and cottolene — a combination of 
tallow and cottonseed oil — to lard for general culinary use. 

The carbohydrates — the sugars and starches — are 
mainly vegetable ; the animal products, except milk, having 
only a very small quantity. 

The salts are the things which give hardness to the bones, 
common salt being in evidence the most. 

In a general way it may be stated that proteids are the 
flesh foods; fats, the heat foods; carbohydrates, the work 
foods ; while the salts add flavor. 

The relative proportions needed for the average "man, 
woman, and child daily are as follows : — 

Carbo- 
Proteids. Fats. hydrates. 

Man 4.4 oz. 4.4 oz. 16 oz. 

Woman 3.9 oz. 2 oz. 14 oz. 

Child 3 oz. 1.8 oz. 1 1 oz. 

In serving the family the woman who understands 
domestic economy will keep in mind the proportions. For 
the child, milk, eggs, some of the vegetables and fruits with 
a little meat, will furnish material for growth. 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 267 

Almost all articles of food contain waste matter to a 
greater or less extent. Cellulose is the fundamental struc- 
ture, the skeleton, of vegetables, much of which is taken into 
the system. It furnishes residuum for the alimentary canal 
as well as mechanical stimulus to its walls. Too concen- 
trated food causes torpidity, consequently constipation. In 
cookery the object is to so separate the cellulose from the 
nourishing properties of food that little difficulty will remain 
in appropriating what is needful for the benefit of the body. 
Oatmeal and graham flour have a large per cent of cellulose ; 
in beans it is very tough, requiring a great amount of cook- 
ing to prepare suitably for the stomach. 

Of all the vegetables, the potato should be used most 
sparingly. Its food value is of the poorest, containing but 
two per cent of proteids, no fat, and only twenty per cent of 
carbohydrates. 

John Gilmer Speed, writing on the use of this vegetable, 
said, " The potato provokes our great national ailment, dys- 
pepsia, and the sooner the consumption of the mealy tubers 
begins, the sooner will the dread fangs of dyspepsia appear. 
To be sure there are some digestive organs so strong that 
the fortunate owners of them can eat anything and every- 
thing with impunity. The eating of potatoes will not bring 
dyspepsia to such as these, but even to them potatoes may be 
dangerous. The hideous uric acid which provokes rheu- 
matism and gout, these dread diseases which attack the 
strong with greater ferocity than the weak, is more surely 
produced by a potato diet than by any other. If these things 
be so, conservative and health-loving persons will not need 



268 FEMINOLOGY. 

any labored argument to convince them that they ought to 
be moderate in their use of potatoes." 

Dr. Cyrus Edson says, " The practice of feeding potatoes 
to infants and young children cannot be too severely con- 
demned. A potato diet may not kill them outright at once, 
but it is certain to injure their digestive organs permanently 
and effectually, so as to make their lives a burden to them- 
selves and to those who are brought in contact with them." 

The mild flavor of the potato will always make it accept- 
able by way of variety. But unless properly cooked nothing 
is more unwholesome at any time. It should not be served 
oftener than two or three times in a week. 

A child may have jam, jelly, and stewed fruit usually 
without stint, but to be taken after the meat and vegetables. 
The digestibility of rice makes it a favorite article of diet 
for children, especially when served as a pudding. 

A child should never be urged to eat more than he feels 
inclined. There is always a cause for a want of appetite 
when that condition exists. The stomach may have been 
overworked and requires rest; the bowels may be loaded, 
and nature wishes time in which to use up the old material ; 
if there is fever or inflammation, food would be improper. 
Appetite can be depended upon to make known bodily 
requirements in normal condition. 

Sometimes the peculiarity of a child's constitution causes 
an antipathy to certain articles of diet. He should never be 
compelled to partake of objectionable food. A mother's 
tact may bring about a liking for certain articles, when 
forcing the child to eat of them might make him really sick. 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 269 

The Bath is hardly less essential to health than proper 
clothing, food, sleep, or exercise. It is a tonic which wards 
off disease, braces, the nerves and strengthens the whole 
body. Infants need bathing more frequently than adults, 
the changes in their bodies being greater, and excretions 
more active. So, for the first year, a babe requires a bath 
every morning and evening, unless he be ailing, when he 
should be cleansed with a moist sponge and dried with soft 
cloths. 

The first bath of an infant differs from those that succeed 
it, in that it involves the removal of the vernix caseosa — the 
paste-like substance which, while it has been a valuable pro- 
tection to the skin of the child in the womb, is irritating after 
birth. Pye Chavasse recommends that a babe be placed in 
the tub for a minute or two for his first bath; but most 
people prefer not to submerge the body for some weeks, or 
at least until the navel is healed after separation of the 
umbilicus. 

The temperature of the room during the bath should be 
warmer by several degrees than when the child is clothed. 
The doors and windows should be closed and remain so until 
the bath is completed. 

The water should be about ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit 
in winter, and somewhat cooler in summer. The bath ther- 
mometer is the best test of the temperature, as the hand is 
easily deceived by variations in heat. The delicate flesh of a 
babe is pained by too great heat, and the vitality is lowered 
by too little. 

All needed articles should be in readiness before the bath 



270 FEMINOLOGY. 

begins; the clothing well aired, the towels, sponge, and 
wash cloths at hand. 

Before placing the child in the water his head should be 
wet; then the body is put into the tub, and with a flannel 
wash cloth, is cleansed. The armpits, groins, and the 
creases of fat should have special attention. Five or six 
minutes are long enough for the tub until the babe is several 
months of age. On removing the child, he should be 
wrapped about with a blanket or large bath towel, and parts 
of the body dried at a time. Every wrinkle, or fold of the 
skin must be smoothed out, and dried perfectly, as it is only 
by such faithful care that chafing or soreness is prevented. 
Having dried and powdered the upper part of the body, the 
shirt should be put on; and the lower part then given the 
same treatment. After that, the back and legs should be 
rubbed gently, and the other clothing arranged. 

The bath should occur before feeding always. 

When the clothing is removed for the night, a quick 
sponging of the surface of the body should precede the 
adjustment of the night clothing. 

At twelve months one bath daily, preferably in the morn- 
ing, should be given. Sometimes in very hot weather a bath 
before bedtime induces restful sleep. Before the child is 
taken from the tub a well-filled sponge squeezed over the 
body clears away the loosened dirt, and has the effect of a 
douche on older persons. 

To wash the head daily tends to prevent colds, and the 
formation of scurf, and stimulates the growth of hair. 

The ear should never be cleaned with pins, hairpins, or 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 271 

hard substances. A blunt cone formed out of a soft hand- 
kerchief, inserted a short distance, will absorb any moisture 
that may have gotten into the canal. 

The nostrils are cleaned in the same manner, a little 
vaseline added to the cone will facilitate the process. 

Activity of the circulation is increased by rubbing the 
back, chest, and limbs after the bath. The skin is also 
encouraged to the proper performance of its functions by 
the reaction which comes from the increased temperature 
caused by friction. 

A child should never be placed in his tub when over- 
heated, nor when too cold. Neither should he be suddenly 
plunged into the water, nor allowed to remain longer than 
five or six minutes therein. 

After the third year a daily sponge bath in the morning, 
with three full baths weekly given just before retiring, are 
sufficient to keep the skin in health. 

As puberty approaches the child should be taught to take 
his bath without assistance. When he is able to do so, he 
should have the room alone, that all clothing may be 
removed, otherwise the bath cannot be as thorough. 

The ordinary ewer and basin, with wash cloth, towels, 
and soap are the necessaries. Having removed the night- 
clothing, the hands are first washed with soap, then the head 
and face dipped into the water. Using the soap on hands 
or washcloth, the face, head, neck, chest, and armpits are 
washed; cleanse the soap away with a damp sponge. A 
damp towel, folded and thrown over first one shoulder and 
then the other, holding an end in each hand, with a back'- 



272 FEMINOLOGY. 

and-forth movement cleanses the shoulders, and is con- 
tinued down the back and loins. The upper part of the body- 
may then be dried. With a clean supply of water in the 
basin, it should be placed on the floor; first one leg should 
be washed and then the other. The external organs of 
generation should be quickly but thoroughly cleansed. In 
drying the body, a soft towel is used to absorb the moisture, 
and a coarser bath towel for friction. When the body is 
thoroughly dried it should be rubbed all over with the bare 
hand. 

The bath should be taken quickly to receive the best 
effects. There is danger of being chilled by loitering or 
delay. In this it is unlike the meals of the day. The pleas- 
ures of the bath are after it is completed, in the buoyant 
refreshing effects. 

The daily sponge is usually sufficient to> keep the body 
clean, and other baths are needed only for their therapeutic 
effects. A full warm bath, not too prolonged, is restful 
after a tiresome day. A cold bath is invigorating, but 
should be taken only by those who are able to get up the 
necessary reaction. Without the reaction there is fatigue, 
and often a chill and prostration. It is of much benefit in 
cases of feeble circulation, with poor appetite and bad 
digestion. 

Care of the Teeth should begin with those that first 
come, using a soft wash rag to rub them, until a number are 
through, and then a soft toothbrush. When discoloration 
forms at the top, as sometimes it does, a mild tooth powder 
may be used to remove it. Unless the milk teeth are well 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 273 

cared for, the permanent set will not be apt to appear regu- 
lar and even. Besides, a healthy condition of the teeth 
reacts on digestion. The child should early learn to cleanse 
his own mouth and teeth, associating the process with the 
regularity of his eating. 

Care of the nails comes in close association with the 
bath. The mother, or nurse, must care for them until 
the child learns to do so. After each bath they should 
be attended, to see if trimming is needed. Neither toe nails 
nor finger nails should be trimmed so short as to be near 
the quick, and they should not be trimmed at the corners 
too much. Hangnails must be trimmed close with sharp 
scissors small enough to handle skillfully. 

External cleanliness and care as to diet will affect inter- 
nal cleanliness. Constipation should not be allowed in the 
nursery, nor through life. But intestinal action should be 
induced by other means than physic. The giving of laxa- 
tive medicines is a most pernicious habit ever to be prac- 
ticed, and in the long run is deleterious. When a free 
passage cannot be induced by food, an enema should be 
used to cleanse the lower bowel of obstructions. 

Exercise is one of the essentials of health through life. 
During infancy and early childhood, there is inborn ten- 
dency to movement, and the spontaneous efforts at walking, 
running, playing, are sufficient to keep the bodily functions 
in tone and strength. 

For the newborn babe, after his first few days, the 
exercise begins in the nurse's arms. He should be laid 
upon his back on a pillow, and carried about the house 
18 



274 FEMINOLOGY. 

(provided there is even temperature) for ten or fifteen 
minutes daily. When the mother is convalescent, if the 
weather is mild, she can with benefit to herself and him, 
carry him for a half hour, morning and afternoon, in the 
open air. 

When he begins to take notice of surroundings, his 
natural tendency to motion is expressed in kicks, move- 
ments of the arms and hands, and cries. By giving him 
liberty daily, self-reliance is developed, which through life 
will serve him well. 

In fine weather, the exercise should be as much out- 
doors as possible. Even an infant should be out the greater 
part of his waking hours in summer. 

Except in very cold weather, or when the mercury is 
much below the freezing point, there should be several 
daily romps outdoors for the children who are too young 
to go to school. The housed-up children of the city may 
be well wrapped and sent on an errand, or given some 
object for their outdoor walk. Just to go out and walk 
aimlessly is not pleasant to many children. 

Delicate children, especially those with tendencies to 
blood disorders or weak lungs need outdoor exercise more 
than the lusty ones. Rainy days must be spent inside by 
children under six ; or if severely stormy, by the older ones, 
also. Suitable entertainment and exercise must be provided 
to prevent mischief, as they soon tire of confinement. 
Swings and trapeze may be placed in the room allotted for 
a playroom, to give useful exercise. And as it is natural 
for little folks to sing and shout, do not be continually 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 275 

suppressing the explosions. It is the escape valve of buoy- 
ant spirits. 

"A child who never gets into mischief must be either 
shy, delicate, or idiotic; indeed, the system of many per- 
sons in bringing up children is likely to make them either 
the one or the other. The present plan of training chil- 
dren is nearly all work, and very little play. Play and 
plenty of it, is necessary to the very existence of a child." 

To preserve the balance, that a child may not see in 
" having a good time " the main object of life, is the nice 
point in the mother's work. A few light tasks as training 
for the field of usefulness should be part of the daily life 
of even wee ones. But they should be made as attractive 
as possible, so that dullness will not be associated with 
work in the young mind. Fatigue and distaste is not so 
easily induced, if tasks, mental or physical, are made pleas- 
urable. The special tastes and tendencies should be dis- 
covered, and the child allowed to follow the natural trend, 
instead of being compelled to perform tasks most objec- 
tionable. 

Sleep and rest must, of course, follow activity. The 
children who are old enough to romp about, may be allowed 
to remain up until eight o'clock, if the evening meal has 
been given as early as six o'clock. It is not a good practice 
to allow them to remain out of bed later, simply because 
their elders do. 

Early to bed gives the mother an evening reasonably 
care free, which consideration is a great one. But besides 
that, it is healthful for the child to have a long-, unbroken 



276 FEMINOLOGY. 

rest of ten or eleven hours. Regularity in this habit encour- 
ages a sturdy constitution. 

The bed of a child should be one with high sides, for 
some years, to prevent falling out. Those constructed with 
the wire-spring support for the mattress are best. Feathers 
are objectionable, unless a child is weak and the body 
difficult to keep warm. Few children care for pillows. 

Each child should have his own bed, after a few months 
of age, or after he has learned to rest through the night 
without feed. The bed may be in the mother's room, or 
in the room with another child, but it should be individually 
his own. Perhaps as much may be said for individual 
beds for children, as for adults. Two persons of any age 
should not sleep in one bed, where it can be avoided, on 
the grounds of health, and often, morals. 

There should be abundance of fresh air in the sleeping 
room, but the bed should not be in a draft. 

If a child is inclined to throw off the covers in rest- 
lessness, only just barely enough to keep him warm should 
be used, and these fastened so he cannot become exposed. 

There is a wide difference of opinion as to the cribs, 
cradles, or beds of infants, and as to whether or not they 
should be rocked to sleep. Common custom, followed from 
where memory runs not to the contrary, decides for the 
rocking bed. It is quite probable the liking for the sway- 
ing motion is educated into the babe. But the rocking 
and jolting is often so persistently and roughly done as 
to be positively harmful to the child. The cradle with a 
to-and-fro swing jostles the child about almost too roughly. 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 277 

The chair bed hung on spiral springs gives an easy sway- 
ing movement, which disturbs not. One of the most con- 
venient of these "jumpers" is hung in a portable frame, 
and can be placed wherever the mother desires. It is large 
enough to accommodate a child until at least two years of 
age. 

The infant that sleeps a great deal thrives much better 
than those who do not. But if sleep does not come nat- 
urally, it should never be induced artificially. Laudanum, 
paregoric, or any " soothing syrup " must never be allowed 
in the nursery. If a child is wakeful and fretful, he is not 
well; and instead of making him sleep by dosing him, the 
cause should be discovered and corrected. Light and noise 
disturb many babes; and should be excluded from sleep- 
ing rooms. Nature chooses the quiet and the dark for 
perfect development, and she should be respected in all 
things. 

Restlessness is often caused by poor ventilation. As 
soon as a child is taken from bed, the nightrobes and covers 
should be fully exposed to light and air, and remain so 
for several hours. Perfect cleanliness is as important to 
the bedding and nighrobes, as to that worn through the 
day. Clean, well-aired clothing for bed and body has a 
soothing effect. 

The face of a sleeping child is a barometer to indicate 
the state of health. When free from ailments, the face is 
in absolute repose; the breathing regular, the eyelids com- 
pletely closed, and the lips slightly parted. Any obstruc- 
tion in the nostrils will cause mouth breathing. When 



278 FEMINOLOGY. 

the eyelids are not closed, it indicates there is pain some- 
where. Contraction of the brows means a pain in the head ; 
rolling of the eyeball or twitching of the eyelids, a symptom 
of convulsions ; widening of the nostrils in breathing, some 
chest disturbance; drawn lips, abdominal pain. 

" To make a general rule," says Dr. Louis Starr, " it 
may be stated that the upper third of the face is altered in 
expression in affections of the brain; the middle third in 
diseases of the chest; and the lower third, in diseases of 
the organs contained in the abdominal cavity." 

The sleeping room should be moderately cool, never 
warmer than fifty to sixty degrees, Fahrenheit. If it is 
cold weather, a little fire, especially an open fire, is desir- 
able. Extremes of temperature are harmful to delicate 
adults and children. 

As soon as a child wakens in the morning, he should 
be washed and dressed. Dozing, after having finished the 
sound sleep of the night, is enervating to every one. 

But a child should never be awakened for any reason. 
He will wake of his own accord when he has slept enough. 
If, for any reason, he must be up at a certain hour of the 
morning, it should not be earlier than seven o'clock, and 
then see that he is abed at night, in order to secure his com- 
plete night's rest. 

Inconsiderate parents sometimes roughly arouse their 
children from sound sleep. The effect is injurious mentally, 
physically, and morally. It excites the brain, quickens the 
heart beats, and rouses rebellion and anger. If the rousing 
must occur, let it be as gentle as possible. 



HYGIENE OF EARLY LIFE. 279 

Bed-wetting should be attended to as early in life as 
possible. It may be due to worms. Usually an evacuation 
of the bladder just before retiring, and taking the child up 
when the mother is ready for bed, will save the sheets, and 
protect the child from consequent injurious dampness. Milk 
should be omitted from the evening meal, and water spar- 
ingly drank. If the incontinence continues, the family phy- 
sician should be consulted. 

Every mother should see that her child does not form 
the habit of breathing through the mouth, instead of 
through the nose. The nasal air passages cleanse and warm 
the air before it is passed to the lungs. In mouth breathing, 
the throat and tonsils become dry and inflamed, disease 
germs are inhaled into the system, and bronchial disorders 
are induced. It is said that those who know how to breathe 
properly, in malarial regions are exempt from the disease. 
Mouth breathing may be established as a habit, through 
some slight obstruction in the nasal air passages; but it 
should be broken up, in order to best preserve the strength 
of the body. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

NORMAL DEVELOPMENT FROM BIRTH TO 
PUBERTY. 

The size of the average child born at the full term of 
pregnancy is about seven pounds in weight and eighteen 
inches in height, with a chest measurement of about thirteen 
inches. Unfavorable prenatal conditions may render it 
very much larger or very much smaller than the average; 
and the relative size of the parents has much to do with 
the variation. 

The expectant mother who consumes large quantities 
of food, because she has been led to believe she must " eat 
for two," will give birth to a babe abnormally large, espe- 
cially if she takes insufficient exercise. While with priva- 
tion, delicate health, and sexual excess endured by the 
prospective mother, an infant will be born small and puny. 

If both parents are large, their child will naturally be 
above the average, probably weighing ten or eleven pounds. 
This is often true where the father only is large, the mother 
being of the average size, or smaller; in which cases, labor 
is lingering and usually severe. 

If both parents are small, their offspring may weigh 
but four or five pounds, and yet be well developed, and 
perfectly healthy and plump. 

Twins, as a rule, are below the average; and firstborn 
children are inclined to be small. 
280 



NORMAL DEVELOPMENT. 281 

In earliest infancy, the skin is very pink, and covered 
with down, sometimes so very soft and fine as only to be 
seen on close inspection. To the mother, the babe will 
suggest a rosy peach, only being far sweeter as to her 
entire senses. After the second week, the skin assumes its 
typical appearance. 

The healthy infant, born at full gestative time, is firm 
and plump, the body so well filled with fat as to conceal 
the underlying bones. There are fully developed nails on 
the tiny fingers and toes, and usually a head of silky hair. 
The child seems to have a fear of falling, and will firmly 
grasp and cling to whatever is within reach. Arms and 
legs are in constant action, even during the first toilet. 
Unless allowed to become chilled, the breathing and gen- 
eral appearance show the points of health. 

Care should be exercised by the nurse not to allow the 
new charge to become chilled in the first bath, as thereby 
the vitality is at once lessened. Professor Fowler says, 
" Every one of my own children, in common with most 
infants, caught a severe cold before being dressed, the 
injurious effects of which cannot well be overestimated." 
As before mentioned, a babe should be covered by a soft, 
warm flannel, as soon as respiration is established. 

The head of a newborn infant is large, out of propor- 
tion to the body as compared with the relative size in child- 
hood, and later. It is frequently ill-shaped, owing to 
prolonged pressure, as in protracted labor. Owing to the 
elasticity of the bones, the normal contour soon returns; 
but that should be left entirely to nature, as any manipu- 



282 FEMINOLOGY. 

lation of the delicate structure does more harm than good. 
In infancy, the bones of the head are not firmly united. 
The lines along which they are joined are often visible, 
and can always be distinguished by the touch. These are 
known as sutures, and are simply spaces between the bones 
occupied by soft cartilage. The sutures are wider at either 
end, where the angles of the bones are incomplete, the 
spaces being called fontanelles, the largest of which is just 
back of the forehead. It is inclosed by membrane, and 
exhibits pulsations. It is formed by the defective corners 
of the disunited frontal and two parietal bones of the 
cranium. 

The fontanelles are gradually filled up with bony mat- 
ter, and, in a healthy child, they are entirely obliterated 
by the close of the second year. In weakly infants, the 
closing is slower. Consequently, an important indication 
of health or disease is here to be observed. In health, the 
opening is almost on a level with the surrounding bones; 
in general debility, it is very much depressed. 

While the head of a newborn babe is so large, the limbs 
are relatively shorter. And in the progress of a healthy 
child, they will be observed to grow more rapidly than the 
rest of the body. As, for instance, a child's first slips, 
which are of comfortable fit, will grow too short and too 
small in the sleeve before the body is outgrown. Most 
mothers of experience look forward to such emergency 
by having the sleeves made so that an alteration is possible 
when they are outgrown. 

With a plentiful supply of food and the healthy exer- 



NORMAL DEVELOPMENT. 



283 



cise of all its functions, the growth of an infant is quite 
rapid, after the first week. For the first three days, there 
is usually a loss of weight while the infant is becoming 
accustomed to its new phase of existence; but by the end 
of the first week, it will have regained the weight at birth. 
Thereafter, an increase of four to six ounces weekly is the 
average rate, although it is seldom uniform; sometimes the 
gain is more, sometimes less. 

The following table will enable one to see at a glance, 
the average development in height and weight. 



Age 


Height 


Weight 


Age 


Height 


Weight 


MONTHS 


inches 


pounds 


years 


inches 


pounds 


Birth 


18 


7 


2 


3iX 


25 


1 


19 


VA 


3 


34 


29 


2 


20 


9 l A 


4 


36 


31 


3 


22 


II 


5 


38 


36 


4 


23 


T2% 


6 


4i 


39 


5 


23X 


14 


7 


43 


4i 


6 


24 


15 


8 


45 


44 


7 


24^ 


16 


9 


48 


5i 


8 


25 


17 


10 


50 


57 


9 


25X 


18 


11 


52 


61 


10 


26 


19 


12 


53X 


68 


11 


26^ 


20 


13 


55 


77 


12 


27 


21 


14 


58 


88 



Children over the average weight at birth, for the first 
year or two, progress with greater rapidity than those born 
under the average weight. As the child grows older, the 
increase in height and weight is slower, as may be noticed 
from the table. A babe at six months is two thirds the 
size he will be at two years, if normal progression is 
not interfered with. 



284 FEMINOLOGY. 

The amount of sleep infants can take varies somewhat, 
largely owing to the care the mother has used in seeking 
repose during pregnancy. With the healthy babe of a healthy 
mother, sleep is almost continuous for some weeks, broken 
only by attentions to his physical needs, as feeding, bathing,, 
and changing napkins. After some time, he will lie awake: 
after his physical requirements have been met, and look 
about with wondering observation. By the time he is six 
months of age, the waking periods are longer, say from 
six to nine o'clock in the morning, from noon to two in the 
afternoon, and from five to seven in the evening, sleeping 
continuously through the night, unless it be to rouse up 
and feed once. From eight months of age up to two or 
three years, the child should become habituated to having 
at least one good sleep through the day, if not two. 

In healthy sleep, there is no movement to be observed, 
but the rise and fall of the abdomen in breathing. While 
awake, the whole body represents activity. To the observ- 
ing mother, restlessness in sleep indicates disorder; and 
drowsiness or quietness when awake is a still stronger indi- 
cation. 

The movements of kidneys and bowels vary with the 
age of the child. In the newborn babe, there are one or 
two actions of both in the first twenty-four hours. What 
is first passed from the bowels is the secretion from liver 
and intestines during gestation. After that has passed 
away, the excreta becomes yellow, of salve-like consistency, 
with a very slight odor, and continues so, in health, until 
the food becomes coarser. Three or four movements of 



■EL 



':■' iiil Slit' 




SPREADING THE NEWS, 



NORMAL DEVELOPMENT. 285 

the bowels are the average, although if it should be increased 
to five or six, and the excreta be healthy looking, there is 
no cause for apprehension, while only two good motions 
daily are compatible with good health. Any distinct, offen- 
sive odor indicates faulty digestion or improper food. 

The evacuations of the bladder occur with varying fre- 
quency, the urine being almost colorless and odorless. The 
quantity of liquids, especially water, being given a child, 
determines the frequency of micturition. An unusual num- 
ber of times need not excite worry, as long as the napkins 
are not stained and have no marked odor. When constant 
care is used to cleanse the infant's thighs and groin, if 
redness and irritability occur, the urine should be given to 
the physician for examination. Sometimes, however, the 
laundering is at fault, the napkins not being sufficiently 
rinsed to free them from the washing compounds used. 
This should be investigated. 

The first indications of unfolding intelligence are 
usually to be observed between the first and second months, 
when an infant will lie quiet and watch the pendulum of 
a clock or a flickering shadow, or discover his own chubby 
fist. A short time later, he will coo and gurgle, in answer 
to the love-making of mother, nurse, or admiring friend. 
He will smile and beat the air with his fists, when mother 
comes at feeding time. (And it is always best that an 
infant be left in his crib or on the bed, except while receiv- 
ing his daily airing and other necessary attentions. He 
will be the more robust for so doing.) 

At from two to four months, babes will make manifest 



286 FEMINOLOGY. 

a preference for individuals, the chief of which is the source 
of the food supply. It is seldom that a child will notice 
sound before three months of age, although a loud or 
unusual noise may seem to startle him. But the vibration 
causes the shock, rather than special auditory sense. After 
that age, the voice of mother will cause attention to be 
directed toward her, or the striking of a clock may be 
noticed. The lullaby songs of mother or nurse are dis- 
tinctly soothing after six months, and some infants will 
attend to instrumental music earlier. It is not best to bring 
a babe into nearness to instrumental music, unless it be 
very softly executed. The vibrations are disturbing to 
the sensitive nervous system. 

A child can hold its head erect by the end of the third 
month, and can sit alone by the sixth. The power of loco- 
motion then begins to develop, as may be noticed by the 
child's bracing his feet against the lap, while being held. 
Being placed on the bed or floor, the restless little one will 
move about, turning the body over, frequently lying for 
some time on his stomach, reaching out his hands trying 
to grasp some object just beyond him. From this exer- 
cise, the child learns to crawl. After having learned to 
support the body on hands and knees, he will stretch out a 
hand and then a leg, often collapsing to the former stomach 
position. But a well baby is not easily disheartened, and 
will try again and again, until he has learned the control 
of the muscles that will aid him to gain an erect position. 

A helpful device for mothers who must not only care 
for their babes, but also the household duties, is made from 



NORMAL DEVELOPMENT. 287 

a box of about 28 by 30 inches, and 24 or 28 inches high. 
Along the short side a shelf or seat is placed eight or ten 
inches from the bottom, and the whole padded with pieces 
of an old comfortable. This will be the baby's playhouse. 
It can be made pretty inside by covering the padding with 
a pleasing design of denim, cretonne, or the flowered " com- 
fort calico " on the side, and fastening a bit of carpet on 
the " floor/' Casters are set in the four corners of the 
bottom, and the outside walls painted, stained, or papered; 
and mother has a nest that will keep baby out of the drafts. 
The toys are put into the box with baby. The seat gives 
him an object to lay hold of in learning the erect position. 
By and by, he can get hold of the top, and move about 
from one side to another. 

Having the box on casters enables the mother to draw 
the precious freight from one room to another, where she 
may be employed; and as often as the weather permits, 
except when very warm, baby may be drawn to a sunny 
corner of the veranda. When quite cool, his wraps may 
be put on as when going abroad, and he can get the fresh 
air and sunshine with much benefit to himself, in his minia- 
ture house on wheels. 

The padded box may be used from the time the child 
can sit erect until he can walk, and rebels at the circum- 
scribed space. It is truly the busy mother's " friend." 

Children vary much in the age at which they are able 
to walk without assistance, the average age being from 
eleven to thirteen months. Some infants never crawl, pre- 
ferring to try the upright position at once. Others, finding 



288 FEMINOLOGY. 

they can easily get about by crawling, persist in that method 
long after they can reasonably be expected to walk. It is 
usually best to allow a child to teach himself to walk, espe- 
cially if he be large and heavy. The bones will hardly 
be firm enough to resist the weight of the body, and some 
deformity be thereby induced. But when several months 
past a year, and crawling is persisted in, if the child is 
usually healthy, it would not be out of the way to teach 
the erect position of locomotion. A child's first efforts at 
walking should be watched, to prevent any serious bumps 
and bruises, as might be caused by a tumble against a stove 
or other furniture. 

Every healthy babe should be able to walk at the age 
of two years ; and when walking powers are not developed 
by that time, parents should seek competent advice, to learn> 
what are the defects mentally or physically. 

It is said that girls develop more rapidly than boys; 
and it is a well-known fact that children who have older 
companions learn by imitation to walk and talk earlier than 
those who are alone in the nursery. 

Teething is a natural process of development occur- 
ring at different ages with different children. At birth, the 
gums are soft and smooth, and remain so for three or four 
months. An increased flow of saliva is usually the first 
indication that dentition has begun. Then the gums toward 
the front of the jaws become swollen, and the babe attempts 
to bite whatever comes within reach. Sometimes, while 
nursing, he will close his toothless gums on the nipple, to 
the discomfort of his mother. 



NORMAL DEVELOPMENT. 289 

Teeth seldom begin to appear before the sixth month. 
From this time until the full set of milk teeth are erupted, 
very judicious care and management are necessary to pilot 
the child safely through. If the babe be delicate, or neg- 
lected, the period of teething is productive of danger to life 
and health. 

The increased activity of the system makes the child 
more susceptible to outward influence. Hence there should 
be increased attention to the daily functions of the body. 
If the child be overfed or constipated, there will be a tend- 
ency to congestion of the brain. Diet should be consci- 
entiously prepared and administered throughout the period 
of dentition, and the action of the bowels observed. A 
slight diarrhea often occurs, but the discharge is beneficial 
unless allowed to continue too long. If there is no griping, 
straining, or pain, diarrhea is merely nature's effort at 
restoring healthy conditions; and hastily checking it would 
induce disease. 

If the discharge is excessive, give the following : — 

If Sirup Rhei et Potassium Sj. 

Fl. Ex. Dioscorea 3j. 

Simple Sirup qs. ad .Sij. 

Dose: Half teaspoonful every half hour until relieved, 
for child under three years. Teaspoonful to child over three 
years. 

A rash sometimes appears about the face and neck, with 
a tendency to soreness behind the ears. This is due to a 
depraved condition of the blood, and irritation diverted 
19 



290 FEMINOLOGY. 

from the gums. For such condition, give the follow- 
ing:— 

IJ. Stillingia Compound 3j. 

Fl. Ex. Berberis Aquifolium 3j. 

Simple Sirup qs. ad Biv. 

Dose: Teaspoonful four times a day. 

Apply locally : — 

IJ Vaseline 5 s.s. 

Sulphate Hydrastia Grs. ij. 

Plv. Boracic Acid Grs. x. 

Mix. 

Cleanse parts, and apply twice daily. 

Special care should be given the parts at the daily bath, 
washing and drying gently, and dusting with rice powder 
or cornstarch, particularly noticing the fold behind the 
ear. A little neglect often makes a bad sore ear. 

The twenty milk teeth are erupted with slight annoy- 
ance to the child in health. Some get them early and in 
quick succession; others cut them slowly. Normally, they 
are cut in groups with a lengthy period of rest between 
each group. 

The first group to appear, as a rule, are the two central 
teeth of the lower jaw, between the fourth and seventh 
months. After a lapse of some weeks, the four central 
teeth of the upper jaw are cut. Between the twelfth and 
fifteenth month, the next group appears, each tooth coming 
through within a few days of the one preceding. These 
are the two incisors in the lower jaw on either side of the 



NORMAL DEVELOPMENT. 291 

first two erupted, and the four known as the bicuspids. 
The canines, or cuspids, or as mothers know them, the 
eyeteeth and stomachteeth, are cut between the eighteenth 
and twenty-fourth months. The four molars come through 
between the twentieth and thirtieth months. 

The irritation and dangers from teething are very much 
lessened by regard for hygienic laws. Under normal con- 
ditions, the only noticeable discomfort is increased heat in 
the- mouth, and the desire to bite everything. Frequent 
bathing of the gums with cool water, and giving plenty 
to drink, diminishes the heat, and almost always renders 
lancing unnecessary. 

A more rapid absorption of the gum is encouraged by 
allowing the child some yielding substance to bite upon. 
His own thumb or finger furnishes the proper resistance, 
and is usually employed without previous recommendation. 
Many mothers and nurses refuse to allow it, but the habit 
is really harmless, and is of great comfort to the child. If, 
while using his digits for a gum-stick, the biting has been 
combined with sucking, the habit may be broken by smear- 
ing the part for which the child shows a predilection, with 
a paste of aloes and water. Teething rings of dark rubber 
are not particularly objectionable; but all white rubber 
should be excluded from the nursery, as it contains a poison, 
always productive of disorders, serious disease, or often, 
death. Any hard substance should not be given the child 
to bite upon, as it will harden the gums, thereby making 
teething the more difficult. 

In some children, dentition does not begin until they 



292 FEMINOLOGY. 

are a year to two, and even three, years of age. Occa- 
sionally, one hears of an adult who has never cut teeth. 
A man known to the writer had reached middle age with- 
out having had hair or teeth; a wig and artificial teeth 
supplied what nature had not. 

Delayed dentition is often difficult. It usually occurs 
in hand-fed children, or those imperfectly nourished by the 
mother. 

Teeth frequently appear out of their regular order; and 
the first and second groups may be cut without an interval 
of rest. Children have been born with one or more teeth. 
These generally drop out, and are replaced by well-developed 
milk teeth. But there are instances where the natal teeth 
have permanently remained. 

Probably the most important factor in preserving the 
health during dentition is pure air. Without it, the blood 
becomes vitiated, laying the system liable to all sorts of 
diseases. Living rooms and sleeping rooms should be kept 
thoroughly ventilated night and day, and the teething infant 
have all the outdoor air possible, the weather permitting. 

Although pure air is so essential to health, it cannot, 
at this time, be made to cover a multitude of other sins, 
especially in diet. The food must be such as can be easily 
digested, and of sufficient nutriment to build up the system 
and circumvent disease. If the babe nurses entirely, the 
mother should adopt a mild, cooling diet, and avoid every- 
thing that would tend to decrease her own health, or that 
would affect the milk, as anxiety or fatigue. The child 
certainly should not be given of the same food eaten by 



NORMAL DEVELOPMENT. 293 

adults. A mixed diet is a fruitful source of ills during 
dentition. 

The tepid bath is soothing to the nervous, easily fretted 
constitution. Given just before retiring, the child will 
pass a restful night. He should be placed in the bath bod- 
ily, and the surface rubbed with the palm of the hand; and 
after being dried, a gentle friction all over the surface has 
a sedative effect. 

The general rule for care during dentition is to keep 
the head cool, and the extremities warm. Give plenty of 
pure water, simple food, abundance of sunshine and fresh 
air; and wear a knitted woolen band about the abdomen 
until all the milk teeth are through. " The complaints 
induced by dentition are numberless, affecting almost every 
organ of the body: the brain, occasioning convulsions, 
water on the brain, etc. ; the lungs, producing congestion, 
inflammation, coughs, etc. ; the stomach, exciting sickness, 
flatulence, acidity, etc. ; the bowels, inducing griping, at 
one time costiveness, at another time purging; the skin, 
causing breakings out." 

The gums should not be scarified, unless the tooth is 
so nearly through there is no danger of closing and leav- 
ing a scar. But when very near the surface, cutting the 
gum over the tooth will greatly relieve the child. 

It is a proverb among mothers that the second summer 
is difficult to pass. This is because the period of teething 
covers the second summer. And if the system has been 
weakened by previous efforts, the child will likely be sen- 
sitive to all influences. 



294 FEMINOLOGY. 

The age at which speech is acquired corresponds to 
the development of walking powers. By the time a babe 
can hold the head erect, he can articulate some of the vowel 
sounds, as ah and oo; when he can sit alone, he will have 
learned some consonant prefixes, as ma, da, goo. It is 
easier to prefix a consonant than to suffix it. The sound 
mama soon comes to be associated with the mother, and 
papa with the father. By and by, other sounds are asso- 
ciated with objects, which, although they may not be cor- 
rect as to the thing referred to, express meaning for the 
child. At the age of eighteen months, most children can 
express some meaning in two or three consecutive words. 
But there is, otherwise, as much variety in progress in 
acquiring speech as in learning to walk. 

Second dentition commences about the sixth year, 
the first teeth to appear being the molars just back of 
the milk teeth, the lower ones first. They are known as 
the first permanent molar teeth. Then the milk teeth 
begin to drop out one by one. The permanent teeth grow 
back of the milk teeth, and through to the edge of the gum. 
The pressure on the fang of the temporary tooth causes 
it to be absorbed. Often when the tooth is out, there is 
nothing left but the crown, thus giving rise to the common 
impression that the first teeth have no roots or fangs. 

The two central incisors of the lower jaw are cut from 
the sixth to the eighth year; the two central incisors of the 
upper jaw, from the seventh to the ninth year; the four 
lateral incisors, from the eighth to the ninth year. Between 
the ninth and tenth years, the anterior temporary molars 



NORMAL DEVELOPMENT. 295 

are succeeded by the first biscuspids. The permanent 
canines make their appearance about the eleventh year; the 
second bicuspids, between the twelfth and thirteenth year; 
the second molars, about the same time : The last teeth 
are called the wisdom teeth, and are most irregular in 
their appearance, but usually they are erupted between the 
seventeenth and twenty-first years. When complete, the 
permanent teeth are thirty-two in number. Progress of 
the permanent teeth should be carefully watched that they 
come in evenly. Irregularity, especially in the front teeth, 
spoils the general expression of the face. In some children, 
the permanent teeth grow down in front of the milk teeth, 
and have a tendency to project outward. This can be 
remedied by having the milk teeth drawn, when this is 
noticed. Sometimes, the jaw is not large enough to allow 
an even growth of the canines. A dentist should be con- 
sulted as to means necessary to gain space. Frequently, 
an incisor is removed to obtain it. Situated as are the 
canine teeth at the angles of the mouth, the facial expres- 
sion is more affected by them than any of the others. 
Parents should notice in time to prevent any unpleasant 
irregularity. 

The upper molars have three fangs, and the lower 
molars, two. The other teeth have but one fang. 

So few people appreciate the value of the teeth, that 
the majority neglect them. Good digestion largely depends 
on thorough mastication of the food; and articulation 
becomes difficult without the aid of teeth. The habit of 
caring for the teeth should early be formed; so that a child 



296 FEMINOLOGY. 

will come to associate his toothbrush with his meals, feel- 
ing that the one is as necessary as the other. 

The irritable condition of the system caused by second 
dentition often renders children particularly obstinate and 
naughty. This should be met with loving, tactful patience, 
never with severity. Serious physical ailments often arise 
from rough treatment in childhood. Parents who are 
severe, show a lack of appreciation of their position. 
Besides, their strictness is usually misplaced. It should 
have been observed in their marital conduct before con- 
ception and birth, thereby obviating all necessity for it in 
dealing with their children later on. 

The progress of physical development may be seen, 
aside from height and weight, in the chest measurements. 
The chest of the average infant should be increased from 
thirteen inches to sixteen inches by the sixth month. By 
the twelfth month, it should be seventeen inches, and one 
inch for every year up to ten years. From ten years to 
sixteen years, the increase is about two thirds of an inch 
annually. 

The body of a child, up to the ninth year, is propor- 
tionately larger than in the adult. Between that age and 
puberty, the lower extremities grow rapidly, and boys and 
girls experience the " shooting-up " process. The whole 
body enlarges, but the length of leg, particularly. 



CHAPTER XV. 
PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 

Although the foundation of character is made at the 
time of conception, modifying influences tend to shape the 
superstructure, working through the mother's organism 
before birth, and afterward, through the senses of the indi- 
vidual child. 

Emerson said, " To the well-born child all the virtues 
are natural, not painfully acquired." And the discipline 
necessary to education becomes simplified, when parentage 
is chosen and prepared for in the conscious dignity and 
responsibility of the position, and the best possible condi- 
tions created for the development of the new being. For 
a child is entirely dependent on parents. He can no more 
choose the environment in which he must live and be sus- 
tained, than choose his parents. Duty is due first from 
them to him. If he has been disregarded, as far as all con- 
sideration for his welfare is concerned, it is entirely out 
of harmony with the laws of nature for parents to expect, 
much less demand, respect and consideration for themselves. 
It will certainly prove one of the painfully acquired vir- 
tues, if there is any measure of success in training for the 
same. 

The growth of childhood is rapid in all directions. At 
seven years, the normal child will have reached half the 

297 



298 FEMIXOLOGY. 

stature, and one third the weight, of maturity. From the 
cry accompanying his first breath, he will have attained a 
considerable command of language that enables him to 
understand and be understood. From an infant mind void 
of intelligence, he will have grown to the power of reason- 
ing for the future by the past. 

Hence, to perfect the mature character, the very best 
possible environment should exist during the earliest years. 
Good influences have best effects, and evil influences the 
worst effects in this sensitive age. 

The best environment is afforded in the home founded 
on love guided by wisdom, in which refinement, purity, 
and harmony are inmates. It is found in the home where 
parents are not only conscious of their duties, but under- 
stand child nature well enough that they may know how 
and when to administer to the physical, mental, and moral 
needs. Hopeless poverty, which warps the better natures 
of men and women, is not the environment into which 
child lives should be called. Xor is that wealth, which 
calls the mind from the real duties of life to those of fri- 
volity and ostentation. Nor is it to be found in those homes 
where the souls of parents have never been aroused; where 
the gratification of appetites and desires is regarded as hap- 
piness; where to live well and dress well, in the material 
sense, is deemed the full requirement of life. 

Mother love has been regarded as the greatest safe- 
guard of childhood. But, in the best sense of the word, 
it cannot be so considered, until there has been a realization 
of, and a preparation for, the very important duties of the 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 299 

estate of motherhood. The mere maternal instinct is not 
fitted to cope with those duties, without intellectual dis- 
cernment and education as to child nature. It is likely to 
yield to the whimsical domination of the child mind played 
upon by any passing influence; and which, by constant 
recurrence, strengthens any given tendency in the child, and 
fosters the spirit of selfishness. From parents merely fond, 
grow those irreverent youthful spirits, who feel that the 
point they occupy is the highest, and that which can min- 
ister to their having a good time, to be the only things 
worthy of consideration. The selfish youth grown into 
maturity furnishes the cruel, brutal, lustful, egotistic adult, 
to whom no good thing is held sacred to respect. 

In treating of the subject of the widespread — almost 
universal — ignorance as to the duties of parenthood, the 
great Herbert Spencer said : — 

" If, by some strange chance, not a vestige of us 
descended to the remote future, save a pile of our school- 
books or some college examination papers, we may imagine 
how puzzled an antiquary of the period would be on finding 
in them no indication that the learners were ever likely 
to become parents. ' This must have been the curriculum 
for their celibates,' we may fancy him concluding. ' I per- 
ceive here an elaborate preparation for many things, espe- 
cially for reading the books of extinct nations ( from which, 
indeed, it seems clear that these people had very little worth 
reading in their own tongue) ; but I find no reference what- 
ever to the bringing up of children. They could not have 
been so absurd as to omit all training for this gravest of 



300 FEMINOLOGY. 

responsibilities. Evidently, then, this was the school course 
of one of their monastic orders.' 

" Seriously, is it not an astounding fact, that, though 
on the treatment of offspring depend their lives or deaths, 
and their moral welfare or ruin, yet not one word of instruc- 
tion on the treatment of offspring is ever given to those 
who will hereafter be parents? Is it not monstrous that 
the fate of a new generation should be left to the chances 
of unreasoning custom, impulse, fancy — joined with the 
suggestions of ignorant nurses and the prejudiced counsel 
of grandmothers? If a merchant commenced business with- 
out any knowledge of arithmetic and bookkeeping, we 
should exclaim at his folly, and look for disastrous conse- 
quences; or, if studying anatomy, a man set up as a 
surgical operator, we should wonder at his audacity, and 
pity his patients; but that parents should begin the diffi- 
cult task of rearing children without ever having given a 
thought to the principles — physical, moral, or intellectual 
— which ought to guide them, excites neither surprise at 
the actors, nor pity for their victims. 

" To tens of thousands that are killed, add hundreds of 
thousands that survive, with feeble constitutions, and mil- 
lions that grow up with constitutions not so strong as they 
should be, and you will have some idea of the curse inflicted 
on their offspring by parents ignorant of the laws of life. 
Do but consider for a moment that the regimen to which 
children are subject is hourly telling upon them, to their 
lifelong injury or benefit; and that there are twenty ways 
of going wrong to one way of going right, and you will 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 301 

get some idea of the enormous mischief that is almost 
everywhere inflicted by the thoughtless, haphazard sys- 
tem in common use. . . . 

" When sons and daughters grow up sickly and feeble, 
parents commonly regard the event as a misfortune — a 
visitation of Providence. Thinking after the prevalent cha- 
otic fashion, they assume that these evils come without 
causes; or that the causes are supernatural. Nothing of 
the kind. In some cases, the causes are doubtless inherited ; 
but in most cases, foolish regulations are the causes. Very 
generally, parents themselves are responsible for all this 
pain, this debility, this depression, this misery. They have 
undertaken to control the lives of their offspring from hour 
to hour; with cruel carelessness, they have neglected to 
learn anything about these vital processes, which they are 
unceasingly affecting by their commands and prohibition; 
in utter ignorance of the simplest physiological laws, they 
have been year by year undermining the constitutions of 
their children; and have so inflicted disease and premature 
death, not only on them, but on their descendants." 

At birth, the sense of feeling is the only one very much 
quickened. A babe suffers from pain, want, or rough 
handling, and makes it known through its cries. The mani- 
fest duty of the nurse is to discover and remove the cause 
for the cries. Rocking, singing, jolting, jarring perpe- 
trated as a diversion or counter-irritant, is certainly cruelty, 
and fosters the germs of ill nature in the newborn. In 
time, he will give vent to feelings of pure anger, even 
though there be no pain. Cheerfulness, serenity, gentle- 



302 FEMINOLOGY. 

ness, should be the spirit of the nursery; and the unfolding 
senses will respond to the influence, as rose petals to the 
soft atmosphere of early summer. 

Froebel, called by loving admirers, the Discoverer of 
Childhood, held the opinion that each age of life has a com- 
pleteness of its own; and that the perfection of the later 
stage can be obtained only through the perfection of the 
earlier. If the infant is what he should be as an infant, 
and the child as a child, he will become what he should be 
as a boy, just as naturally as new shoots spring from 
healthy plants. In fact, that as man and nature have the 
same origin in God, they are subject to the same laws. 
Every stage of life should be cared for in just such a way 
that it may attain to its own perfection. That however 
important are all subsequent periods of human growth, the 
seed and the seedling time is the basis on which they all rest. 

Froebel devoted himself largely to the instruction of 
the mothers of his time who were within his reach, realiz- 
ing that with them lay the training which perfects the 
foundation of character. 

And as soon as a child became capable of giving expres- 
sion to his wants and ideas, the kindergartens were needed 
to supplement the work of the mother. Froebel' s idea was 
that the mother protects and strengthens the child as an 
individual, and the kindergarten enables him to develop in 
the relation he bears to the society of equals. But as yet 
the glorious gospel of child culture has not been extended 
enough to benefit the great majority. Until the responsi- 
bilities of parenthood are realized more widely, the gospel 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 303 

will fall on deaf ears, or as the words of the wise to those 
who lack understanding. 

In Froebel's study of the nature of childhood, he 
learned that the first great characteristic was restlessness. 
First, restlessness of the body, delight in mere motion of 
the limbs. Secondly, restlessness of the mind, a constant 
curiosity about whatever came within the range of the 
senses, and especially a desire to examine with the hand 
every unknown object within reach. Children's fondness 
for using their hands was specially noticed, and Froebel 
found that they delighted not merely in examining by touch, 
but also in altering whatever they could alter, and, further, 
that they endeavored to imitate known forms, whether by 
drawing or by modeling in putty or clay. 

Games, or occupations, were invented by this great 
genius, who loved the world through young children, which, 
while they were play to children, were directed toward 
good and useful habits. There were " gifts," or play- 
things for the infant, which would convey to the budding 
intellect some idea beyond and above that of passing enter- 
tainment. 

The first gift consists of soft worsted balls, the colors 
of the rainbow, which may, or may not, be suspended from 
a string to interest through motion as well as color. It is 
given when the active, growing babe begins to notice and 
examine, and conveys the idea of unity, motion, entirety. 

The second gift is a box containing a wooden sphere, 
cube, and cylinder, together with simple contrivances for 
suspending and revolving each in a variety of positions. 



304 FEMIN0L0GY. 

The series comprises seven gifts, each intended to widen 
the circle of development, representing in turn, unity, 
analysis, and synthesis. 

The kindergarten furnishes the right kind of supple- 
ment to the family life for early childhood. It requires 
the active exercise of both mental and physical powers. 
The senses of sight, sound, and touch are quickened by the 
gifts and occupations, which call into play the activities 
of each individual child. 

Froebel's first kindergarten was opened in 1840, at 
Blankenburg, Germany; and his educational ideas have been 
spread in every land since that time. 

M. Michelet, the French historian, declared that Froebel 
had " solved the problem of human education." In 1854, 
Mr. Barnard, of Connecticut, investigated the system and 
reported that it was " by far the most original, attractive, 
and philosophical form of infant development the world has 
yet seen." 

The system does not so much seek to convey the ideas of 
others to the unfolding mind as to teach the child to think 
its own thoughts. An enthusiastic exponent of the advan- 
tages of kindergarten training speaks as follows : — 

" There are other uses of the kindergarten ; but this is 
its one specific use : that it gives the fullest play to each and 
every individuality, while it brings all the individualities into 
full organic connection, supplementing, correcting, inten- 
sifying one another. Far from exposing the individuality 
to the loss of itself, this society enables it to find itself, and 
consciously, freely, to strengthen and enrich itself for the 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 305 

society of which it is an element, bringing itself into habits 
of usefulness, that will ever after urge it to do the greatest 
with all the power and all the powers it may possess. 

" There are other uses of the kindergarten. Physically, 
its training calls into play the muscles of the little child in a 
way that insures ample exercise within the limits of the 
child's strength and skill, and that leads to ever greater 
strength, ever greater skill, ever more grace and directness 
of movements. Intellectually, the kindergarten accustoms 
the mind to interpret clearly, distinctly, promptly, whatever 
impressions reach it through the well-trained senses ; it fills 
the memory and renders it strong and quick, fertilizes and 
enriches the imagination and renders it skilled in investiga- 
tion and in fancy, arouses and exercises powers of com- 
parison, of judgment, of foresight. 

"And, all the while, the outward growth — gestures, 
the countenance, language, manual skill — keeps pace with 
the inward growth. Clearly, concisely, the child announces 
his cognitions as they grow in his mind, — not as they stand 
in books or in other people's heads, — or he reproduces them 
with his nimble fingers; plainly, touchingly, beautifully he 
embodies his experiences or imaginings in little stories or 
enacts them in the social game, teaching his creative genius 
to grow in all directions of activity and thought. 

"Again, the kindergarten reveals to the child the won- 
derful beauties of color, form, and sound, and enables him 
to control them within the ever-expanding limits of his intel- 
lect; thus making him an artist as well as a discoverer and 
inventor, a poet as well as a worker and thinker. 
20 



306 FEMINOLOGY. 

" Morally, it accustoms him to firmness of purpose, to an 
abiding love of truth, a free, spontaneous subordination to 
law and order, to cheerful co-ordination with and in society ; 
gives him the habit of the three reverences of Goethe : rev- 
erence for things above, reverence for things below, and 
respectful reverence for himself and his equals ; makes love 
and justice the inherent, unavoidable rules of his conduct." 

Whenever possible, parents should take advantage of the 
kindergarten training. The tots of three, four, and five years 
of age are thus enabled to associate for a few hours daily, 
for at least five days of the week, with companions of the 
same age and understanding, under the supervision of the 
kindergartner. Mothers should arrange to visit the kinder- 
garten to acquaint themselves with the methods of enter- 
taining and instructing; for, unfortunately, mothers are 
sadly in need of such knowledge. In the vast majority the 
main object is to keep the child from bothering, and from 
becoming soiled, allowing it to " pick up " its own enter- 
tainment with or without useful knowledge just as it may 
happen. Not because the best interest of the child is not 
foremost in their heart of hearts, but because there is a lack 
of skill in directing the education of the seedling time, which 
is received through the playthings of infant years. 

In the public schools of the United States, that foun- 
dation of strength for an enlightened nation, the mental 
work is constantly being reinforced by physical training 
that imparts fresh vigor to the mind, and skill to the fingers 
in construction, and to the sense of sight in computing 
measurements and distances. 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 307 

Children progress more rapidly in studies purely mental 
when part of the time is devoted to manual training. Occa- 
sionally there is one with no taste whatsoever for construc- 
tion; but it will be a most uncommon exception who would 
need to be sent back to his books entirely for a lack of even 
a germ of taste for physical training. 

A system of instruction known as sloyd which was orig- 
inated in Sweden and Finland has been largely adopted by 
other countries, including our own. It utilizes as a means 
of education the universal delight of children in constructing 
things ; and in addition to its special function of training the 
hand and eye, it develops habits of self-reliance, order, 
accuracy, and industry. 

The child whose brain has been taught to plan, and the 
hand to execute, has largely mastered the lesson of power. 
An almost infinite advantage is gained over both those whose 
brain only is educated and those whose muscles only are 
trained to action. 

" The sloyd work consists of a series of manual exercises 
carefully graduated in difficulty from the simplest discover- 
able tool-manipulation to the most complete kinds of join- 
ery," says a writer to one of the educational periodicals. But 
these are embodied in complete and useful objects from the 
outset, and in their character as exercises they are carefully 
veiled from the pupil. 

As in the kindergarten, the sloyd work " puts the whole 
child to school." The school where the physical and moral 
sides of child-nature are disregarded, where education is 
exclusively for the mind, and that, too often beyond the 



3 o8 FEMINOLOGY. 

interest and understanding, does not perfect the individual 
in all directions. The ideals of conscientious educators urge 
them to strive for the true system that will develop the en- 
tire individual instead of the one-sided. When the entire 
capacity is increased by an all-sided education, any youth, 
boy or girl, is better fitted for life in any sphere. For, in 
any lot of life there exists the necessity for work with head 
and heart and hand for all who would live a true manly or 
womanly life. That education which gives habits of 
industry for the entire being is without question the superior 
of that which only educates the wit to try to shirk labor; 
which trains the brain to plan without the ability to execute; 
or trains the muscles to execute without the ability to 
plan. 

From a very early period in life a child is certainly a 
torrent of questions. As Ruskin said, it may think its 
father and mother know everything — perhaps that all 
grown-up folks know everything; very certainly it is sure 
that it does not. And it is always asking questions and 
wanting to know more. Contrary to the prevailing opinion, 
questions are not propounded without rhyme or reason. 
Intellectual development has commenced; and the very 
eagerness that prompts inquiry should suggest to parents 
the imperative need of a proper supply of mental food. If 
replies satisfactory do not come from the parental source, the 
child will turn to others who are willing to gratify the desire 
for knowledge. Or, if satisfaction cannot be found, the 
intellect is thrown back upon itself, and the small inquirer 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 309 

either becomes dull and spiritless, or moody and sullen ; and 
the fine natural susceptibility becomes lost. 

The pressure for the performance of every-day duties, 
social or otherwise, too often fills the lives of parents to the 
suppression of the best interests of their offspring. They 
throw away the future for the present, in the short-sighted 
eagerness for wealth or social position, by leaving the train- 
ing of their children to chance, or the hands of servants 
whose every idea is foreign to the best interests of child- 
hood. It is not without reason that a paid domestic will 
argue, if the child's parents are too busy to care for it why 
should she trouble herself beyond the point of concealing 
by care for outward appearances the real needs of the child. 

The question of competent domestic service is one that 
is wide enough to fill a volume of itself. The question of 
competent mothers and fathers is incomparably more so; 
and only the outward fringes of it is touched upon herein. 

A vital subject touching upon the very foundation prin- 
ciples of life must be met among the earliest eager inquiries 
— the question of human genesis. 

Almost all parents are pleased and proud to note mental 
and physical improvement, even though they do not take the 
time to supervise more than bodily requirements. But once 
the origin of life is inquired into, the vast majority take 
refuge behind fantastic tales of untruth, or suppress the 
questioner. 

In most child-hearts there is a genuine love for the tiny 
newborn babe who appears suddenly as a member of the 



3 io FEMIN0L0GY. 

family circle. It is quite the most natural question in the 
world for the older ones to ask, " Where did it come from." 
Some parents will be perplexed as to how to meet the ques- 
tion while sincerely wishing to say the words exactly fitting 
the occasion. Others without a moment's hesitation will 
state that God sent baby; or that they bought it; or the 
doctor brought it. All of which may, in a certain sense, be 
true; considering the law of reproduction to be of God, the 
physician's fee to be the price paid, and his services con- 
sidered in the light of having brought the newborn. But, 
of course, such statements are not made with the object of 
conveying to the fledgeling mind an atom of intelligence. 

This state of affairs is an outgrowth of the old mistaken 
idea that ignorance is innocence, that purity consists in a 
lack of knowledge. The basis upon which it has rested is, 
that because the laws of procreation have been perverted 
and brought to the level of the lowest there must be some- 
thing radically bad about procreation itself. Ignorance 
breeds a lack of reverence for any of the higher laws. And 
marriages not based on unselfish love generate the feeling 
of nausea on sexual subjects. Children born of such mar- 
riages will naturally lack the saving grace of love. And 
when their turn comes for parentage they cannot impart 
a true knowledge of the sacredness of human origin, for 
they themselves do not possess that knowledge. 

There is no darkness but ignorance. 

Of those who have walked in the night, more have 
stumbled and fallen (and some never to rise) than have 
reached maturity with powers not impaired. 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 311 

Children should be taught the mystery of their being, 
at their parent's knee, and while learning it, should have 
their imagination quickened with high ideals. For with 
knowledge of the source of life, it is also more than neces- 
sary to instill an idea of the duties and responsibilities inher- 
ent in every individual existence. If a garden spot is not 
sown and cultivated with beautiful flowers or useful vege- 
tables, the weeds will be certain to return. So- that here 
eternal vigilance is necessary also. 

Education on this point should begin with the first ques- 
tion. If that opportunity is lost, the difficulty of the begin- 
ning becomes harder as delay is prolonged. 

The English writer on social topics, Lady Cook, remarks, 
" When the little one, wondering whence do little children 
come, asks, ' Mother, who made me ? Where did I come 
from ? ' the usual answer is a silly falsehood, about a goose- 
berry bush, or the pious subterfuge, ' God made you, my 
dear.' One might as well tell a child after eating too much 
that God gave it its fit of indigestion. Would it not be 
wiser and better for the mother to say at once, ' My darling, 
you came from your father and mother. We made you 
from our own bodies, so that you are a part of us. You 
grew as the seed grows within a fig; and for many weary 
months I carried you beneath my heart, where you were 
fashioned and remained until you were fit to be born, and 
then I brought you into the world with much pain ; and so 
I am called your mother, because the word " mother " means 
labor, and you cost me much.' Would not the heart of a 
child be drawn nearer to her by this relation than by the 



312 FEMINOLOGY. 

other, whose improbability would shortly render the young 
mind prurient to ascertain the truth, and when known, to 
keep it as a guilty secret? " 

Or, as the American worker for social uplifting, Mrs. 
Scammon, says, " Begin so soon and so simply that neither 
they nor you will remember the time — and certainly before 
the formation in the childish minds of false notions that 
could interfere with the most perfect freedom. 

" Do not at first enter into long explanations, but teach 
from nature's simple and pretty lessons. Take them among 
the leguminous plants of the garden, hold in your hand the 
ripened pod, and point a lesson from its protection and dehis- 
cence. Lead them through the orchard paths when the 
boughs are abloom and the air adrift with the scented snow 
of falling petals. Show them the bud, the blossom, the 
formation of the tiny emerald sphere within the folded leaves 
— leaves that have performed their part and may fly if they 
like, now that the lusty young fruit no longer needs their 
protection from frost or blast, and can develop without fur- 
ther aid from them. 

" Soon the lessons may proceed from the vegetable to 
the animal kingdom. Here they will learn the use and 
not the abuse of the procreative faculties. They will 
observe the manifestation of instinct unguided by reason, 
and may be led to recognize in themselves the power of 
reason to guide and govern instinct. 

" Give them pairs of pets of various kinds — birds, dogs, 
rabbits, kittens; and let them each become the sympathetic 
accoucheur when little furry, four-footed babies are born. 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 313 

When questions arise that cannot be answered by observa- 
tion, reply to each as simply and directly as you answer 
questions upon other subjects, giving scientific names and 
facts, and such explanations as are suited to the compre- 
hension of the child. It is possible that this course of 
instruction may open your eyes to some defects and mistakes 
in your own education. It did mine. 

" Treat nature and her laws always with serious, respect- 
ful attention. Treat the holy mystery of parenthood 
reverently, never losing sight of the great law upon which 
are founded all others — the law of love. Say it and sing 
it, play it and pray it, into the soul of your child, that love 
is lord of all. 

" Thus under your guidance will nature unfold her 
sweetest, most fondly cherished secrets, and your dear child, 
your boy as well as your girl of ten or twelve years, will have 
arrived quite simply and naturally at a full knowledge of 
all the laws of reproduction. His fancy may linger over 
the prenatal days; he may picture himself as lying a 
fledgeling with folded wings in his sheltered nest, soft- 
brooded in mother's very bosom, lulled by her loving heart- 
beats, sung to sleep by the rhythm of her sweet pulses. Is 
there a stain upon his white soul that sets it to such music? 
Would you exchange this knowledge for the ' innocence ' 
of the boy who has been forced to abandon his belief in 
flying angels, in saddle-bags, or storks, and in their stead 
has accepted the garbled obscenity of the stable or the 
street?" 

Of course, the same method of conveying information 



314 FEMINOLOGY. 

cannot be adopted by all. As a wise man once said, our 
eyes are apparently constructed alike, yet how differently we 
see through them. The subject brings itself to this point: 
all who assume parenthood should strive to inform them- 
selves on the question of human origin. It is one that con- 
fronts the child on all sides, and from some source sooner 
or later he will satisfy his eagerness to know. Secondly, 
all who assume parenthood should acquaint themselves with 
the children of their own lives, and become cognizant of the 
means whereby these great truths may be brought to the 
understanding of each. Love, justice, and absolute truth- 
fulness from parent to child, must and will generate a feeling 
of companionship, combined with reverential respect and 
trust on the part of child toward parent. 

Home education is big with possibilities for weal or woe 
for the young. So many things are to be done or left undone 
according to the disposition of each child. The question of 
discipline is all-important. The greater age and experience 
of parents naturally presupposes that children should some- 
what conform to their wishes. How that is to be accom- 
plished is the serious point. In the first place, parents 
should be certain of being right, and not unreasonable ; and 
then only demand blind obedience in things the child-mind 
cannot be made to comprehend, and which are necessary for 
his welfare. 

Severe measures in dealing with tender childhood is a 
relic of dark ages. As Professor Fowler says, follow Solo- 
mon in whipping little children, and in some other practices 
if you will; but let me follow his successor and superior who 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 315 

taught to overcome evil with good. To use the great ani- 
mal strength an adult possesses over the tender bodies of 
infancy and childhood to enforce an injunction, depraves 
and degrades. The hand of a father, oftentimes capable 
of felling an ox by one blow, should never be raised against 
his own child. And the mother should consider her posi- 
tion in relation to the rights of the child. Said one, " I 
do not feel that I have any more right to strike my child 
than his father has the right to strike me." Any issue repre- 
sents a difference of opinion, which, if it cannot be settled 
by reason, should be left open to choice. And if loving 
regard for others has been taught by example as well as 
precept, the child will not choose the wrong. For a child 
learns to speak and act in imitation of those about him. 
But the sense of justice and right should be appealed to, 
and the child-mind made to see wherein the way pointed 
out to him is better than his own way. 

There is a mistaken kind of parental affection which 
encourages the young child to words and actions that are 
offensive in older children. 

When babyhood is passed, the start toward self-will, the 
overweening consciousness of his own importance, is diffi- 
cult to check and overcome. Instead of loving thoughts for 
others, he has learned to regard himself as the center around 
whom family life revolves. Anything that will suggest to 
him thoughts and acts for others, will place before his mind 
his own true position in the family perspective. 

The self idea is abnormally prominent in present-day 
civilization, and has shown itself in lack of regard for the 



3 i6 FEMINOLOGY. 

rights of others. It does not include reverence for things 
above or below, but only that which can minister to the 
gratification of the ruling passion. 

Each child must necessarily be disciplined according to 
the character of each. What might be useful in directing 
one will seldom affect another similarly. The high-tem- 
pered child, or that one with naturally evil propensities, can- 
not be recreated through the process of flogging. It would 
better not have been conceived; but in no case should it be 
beaten. 

Probably no better enlightenment could be thrown upon 
parental duty or discipline than phrenology. A skilled 
phrenologist can by a pass over the head describe the traits 
of character and the methods whereby the deficiencies may 
be brought out in the growing child. As for instance, the 
shrinking child should be encouraged to self-assertion, while 
the aggressive child should be taught to restrain himself. 

For a small fee, parents may be provided with invaluable 
assistance in guiding the plastic years of childhood, from 
any reliable phrenologist. And, in addition, there should 
be a realization of the truth that the mind is never at rest, 
and just such material as is needed must be supplied at the 
time when needed. 

In the period of years when story-telling delights, high 
ideals may be formed from such tales as illustrate the work- 
ings of the pure and noble in human nature. Later, when 
the mind can grasp the meaning of what it reads, there are 
many good and helpful juvenile books and periodicals from 
which to select the mental food that will delight and 
strengthen the forces of the growing future man or woman. 



PARENTHOOD AND EDUCATION. 317 

Many lives have been colored by what has been read. 
"Robinson Crusoe" suggests to many the snug delights 
of being on an island all one's own, notwithstanding the 
shipwreck, loneliness, and danger from cannibals. Tales of 
adventure inspire the wandering proclivities of many. 

The " nickel library " and " penny dreadfuls " have 
awakened the ambitions of countless youths to become one 
of those impossible heroes brought out in the impressionist 
colors used by writers who thrill and harrow the emotions 
without regard for the accuracy of truth. It is not enough 
for parents to forbid such literature; for if nothing better 
has been selected to forestall the printed trash, it will be read 
clandestinely, and as often as can be planned for by the mind 
made cunning by austere parental discipline. 

Miss Jeannette Gilder, the brilliant newspaper woman, 
relates in a magazine article how her life was shaped by 
reading the life of Benjamin Franklin. She determined, 
while very young, to become connected with newspaper 
work. And through the striving toward her youthful ideal, 
she became one of the best journalists. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps explained the formation 
of her early taste for literature as being due to the tactful 
selections of her father. She never knew there was per- 
nicious literature until she found it through investigation, 
after having reached maturity. 

Although there is a tendency to ridicule sentiment and 
lofty ideals, those things should go side by side, and inter- 
weave with so-called practical things. It keeps the win- 
dows of the soul opened to those things that make the man 
greater than his material surroundings. 



318 FEMINOLOGY. 

Music is among the first of those beneficial helps. As 
the tiniest infant cooes contentment to the mother's lullaby 
song, the older ones continue it. Singing is a form of 
activity, and as such, delights children. Besides, it cultivates 
memory; a child will the more easily lay hold of, and 
remember, words it hears in song or verse. Song, too, is an 
attractive means of appealing to unfolding intelligence. It 
brings into play the imagination, the perception, the aesthetic 
sense and emotional capacities, as . well as the memory. 
Every mother knows the soothing effect of the lullaby song 
on baby, and how dullness and heaviness are dissipated by a 
lively song affecting the entire family. 

The habit of singing is a good one to cultivate, even 
where it is seemingly impossible for parents to provide 
musical instruction. It brings about a good chest develop- 
ment so necessary to health; it preserves a sunny temper, 
and since mind and body act together, digestion and other 
physical functions are aided by song. 

The child may not understand the words as he repeats 
them, but in the years of life that come and go, there are 
oftentimes occasions when they will leave the corridors 
of memory to do a needed service for the individual. 

The beacon light to be upheld like the cloud by day and 
pillar of fire by night is embodied in the golden thought of 
Epictetus, " Do right without regard to what people say or 
think." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 

The pathway of each individual child is more or less 
bestrewn with the ills that flesh seems heir to. For the 
assistance of parents in recognizing the ailments most com- 
mon, this chapter is prepared. The highest aim of medical 
science is to prevent disease; the treatment being a matter 
secondary. But a large proportion of people would prefer 
to " take something/' than to observe natural laws, and 
keep themselves and children from ailing. Disease can be 
forestalled in many cases by using simple measures to coun- 
teract; and that is always to be preferred as a sound health 
measure. 

For the purpose of convenience in consulting this 
chapter, it is treated under the following subdivisions : — 

1. Disorders of Early Infancy. 

2. Disorders during Dentition. 

3. Disorders from Imperfect Digestion. 

4. Disorders Arising from Colds. 

5. Affections of the Throat. 

6. Affections of the Skin. 

7. Contagious Diseases. 

8. Constitutional Diseases. 

9. Parasitic Diseases. 
10. Urinary Disorders. 

319 



320 FEMIN0L0GY. 

i. Disorders of Early Infancy have been dwelt 
upon in a preceding chapter, to some extent. There 
are sometimes injuries received during birth when labor 
has been tedious, or where there has been instrumental 
delivery. Elongation of the head, swellings upon the scalp, 
and distorted features are common, and usually no treat- 
ment is necessary. Elongation is from the chin to the 
back of the head, it being at times five or six inches ; often 
more, in a large child. Manipulations about the delicate 
structure are more harmful than good. The natural shape 
will be regained completely in from ten days to two weeks. 
If the swellings upon the scalp are severe-looking, cooling 
applications of extract of witch-hazel and water, or alcohol 
and water, may be frequently used. 

Bleeding from the navel cord sometimes occurs after 
birth, carelessness in dressing being the usual cause. This 
is very dangerous. The band must be removed, and an entire 
new dressing made. A ligature composed of six strands of 
white linen thread should be applied not too near the body, 
tightly tied, though not so much as to cut the umbilicus. 
Then a dressing of absorbent cotton should be used. Two 
pieces of the cotton should be made ready, each being about 
four inches square. The first is placed on the left side of 
the abdomen above the navel, and the stump of the cord laid 
upon it pointing upward; this piece of cotton is arranged 
about the navel, and the second piece is laid smoothly over 
the cord. The flannel band is then replaced. Care must 
be used for some time to handle the child with gentleness, 
and crying prevented. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 321 

Ulceration of the navel occasionally occurs after the cord 
is separated. If it assumes an inflammatory character and 
spreads rapidly, the physician should be informed. After 
the separation, to dust the navel with boracic acid will almost 
surely prevent any excoriation. 

Discoloration of the skin usually follows a difficult birth. 
The congested-looking redness gives way to a yellowish 
complexion, resembling jaundice. This needs no treatment. 

Retention of the meconium or urine indicates a lack of 
activity in these natural functions, or some physical malfor- 
mation. If twelve hours elapse without an evacuation from 
either or both bowels and bladder, the infant should be 
placed in a warm bath, immersed at least over the lower 
half of the abdomen. Or, a flannel wrung out of warm 
water may be placed over the bowels, and changed fre- 
quently. Meantime, the nurse should examine the parts 
to learn whether or not malformation exists. 

The breasts of an infant will sometimes swell and secrete 
a thin fluid resembling milk. Pressure should never be 
made to remove the secretion. If the parts appear swollen 
and tender to the touch, a dressing of flannel wrung from 
warm water should be at once applied, to reduce and 
remove the inflamed condition. 

Sore eyes is not an infrequent, though serious, disor- 
der from which infants suffer. The first indication, usu- 
ally occurring in about three days after birth, is the col- 
lection of watery matter at the inner corner of the eye, 
which tends to run down the cheek. This is followed by 
some swelling of the eyelids, which are reddened and dis- 
21 



322 FEMINOLOGY. 

colored, and are kept closed — the light being apparently 
painful. The disorder should be attended to in the com- 
mencement, to prevent lasting trouble. The great point to 
be observed is cleanliness. The eye must be kept free from 
the discharge, by softly mopping away the matter secreted 
with a very soft sponge wet in a warm solution of boracic 
acid, or with old soft linen cloths. Warm milk and water 
is a soothing application. 

In bathing the eyes, the liquid must be introduced 
between the lids as well as outside. Two persons will be 
needed, in severe cases, to apply the lotion to be adminis- 
tered, the method of doing it being as follows : — 

One person holds the infant with its feet toward her 
person, its head resting gently, but firmly, between her 
knees, the arms and body confined from aimless motion. 
The other person being free to apply the lotion, separates 
the lids by pressing on the bony projections above and 
below the eye, and with the other hand, bathes the eye 
with the soft cloths or sponge soaked in the lotion. The 
only necessary precautions are to avoid all pressure on 
the eyeball, and to guard all sponges or cloths used, as 
the discharge from inflamed eyes is contagious. Tiny bits 
of cloth may be used and burned; or the sponge carefully 
washed with carbolic soap, and rinsed after being used 
each time. Medical aid should be summoned, if the dis- 
charge exists to such an extent as to require more than 
three or four daily treatments. 

I have seen severe cases of infected eyes give way to the 
following treatment : — 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 323 

5 Saturated Solution Boracic Acid . . 1 ounce. 

Sulphate of Hydrastia 3 grs. 

Mix. 

Sig., one drop in each eye three times daily. 

Congenital closure of the tear-ducts sometimes exists, 
which prevents the secretions of the eyes being carried to 
the nose. But the lids do not become swollen and dis- 
colored. Any continued tendency of tears to flow down 
the cheek should be noted, and the physician's attention 
called to it. Surgical means will open the natural passage. 

Other deformities requiring the surgeon's skill some- 
times occur in the form of tongue-tie, harelip, and cleft 
palate. 

In tongue-tie, the bridle beneath the tongue is either 
too short or is attached too near the tip of the tongue, 
the movement of the organ being interfered with in nurs- 
ing, and later in speaking. There is more or less danger 
from hemorrhage in this operation, and parents should trust 
to none but a skilled surgeon to remedy tongue-tie. 

The operation for the correction of harelip should occur 
within the first six months of the infant's life ; and for cleft 
palate, about the end of the second year. 

The feeding of a child is often seriously interfered with 
by these deformities about the mouth, and the physician 
should be kept informed constantly as to the progress in 
physical growth. 

2. Disorders During Dentition. — Irritation of the 
gums precedes appearance of the teeth, by several weeks, 



324 FEMINOLOGY. 

and is accompanied by an excessive flow of saliva in the 
majority of cases. The amount of general discomfort 
varies with different infants. With some, the teeth 
come through with little or no disturbance to the system, 
while others suffer severe discomfort with each individual 
tooth. 

Associated with irritation of the gums, are irregular 
attacks of feverish conditions, which give rise to restless- 
ness during sleep, and fretfulness during the waking mo- 
ments, with a tendency to digestive derangement. 

While the tooth is forming in the gum, the child is 
relieved and comforted by pressure and rubbing on the 
gum. But just before the tooth comes through, the gum 
becomes tender to the touch. In cases of long-continued 
irritation and convulsions resulting therefrom, lancing is 
to be recommended to hasten the process and relieve the 
child. 

Ulcers are frequently the result of severe inflammation 
of the mouth during teething, and are to be seen on the 
inside of the lips and cheeks, as well as on the tongue. 

Treatment : — 

]? Tincture Echinacea 4 drams. 

Aqua Dist, q.s. ad 2 ounces. 

Saturate a clean sponge, and thoroughly cleanse the 
mouth two or three times daily. 

An application of glycerine and borax, two or three 
times daily, is also recommended. 

Red Gum Rash — Spotted Heat. — Eruptions about the 
head, and sometimes covering the body, during teething, 
indicate that nature is trying to divert the irritation from 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 325 

the gums, to some extent. Nothing should be used to " dry 
up " these eruptions, the free use of water and baby powder 
being enough to forestall any serious result. When the teeth 
appear, the eruptions disappear. (See lithographic plate.) 

Abscess or discharge from the ear is sometimes asso- 
ciated with teething, and is very painful to the child. When 
the external passage is affected, there is a noticeable swell- 
ing and redness; when the middle ear is affected, there are 
no external symptoms. The child cries, tosses its head 
about, and carries its hand to the afflicted side of the head. 
The pain sometimes becomes so intense as to produce con- 
vulsions. The painful stage usually does not last more 
than twelve hours. Relief is afforded by plugging the ear 
with cotton saturated with laudanum, and heat applied 
over the outside. The cotton should be rolled into a thin 
cylinder and dipped into the laudanum, then pushed gently 
into the opening of the ear as far as possible. A flannel 
wrung out of warm water may be placed over the ear, and 
covered with a dry bandage. Or if the child is old enough 
to obey instructions, he may be told to place the afflicted 
side of the head upon the hot-water bottle in his crib, and 
be snugly wrapped up. 

Other causes may induce this disorder, such as cold, 
inflammation of the throat, or digestive derangement. 

When the discharge occurs, the ear should be well 
cleansed by frequent injections of warm water to which a 
disinfectant has been added. The syringing should be as 
gentle as possible, to avoid injuring the inflamed tissues. 
For this purpose, perhaps, none is better than the fountain 
syringe. 



326 FEMINOLOGY. 

Convulsions, unnatural and involuntary contractions 
of the muscles of the body, sometimes result from difficult 
teething, and are a frightful thing to behold. The head is 
drawn backward, eyes staring, arms and legs fixed and 
immovable, hands clenched, and breathing temporarily ar- 
rested. Irregular and violent movements of different parts 
of the body begin, after a few seconds. From the com- 
mencement of an attack, a child is unconscious; but when 
the spasmodic action ceases, the muscles gradually relax, 
and consciousness returns. When due to irritation from 
teething, the spasm will not be of long duration. Con- 
vulsion is very exhausting to the vital forces, and what- 
ever is to be done, must be quickly done. Coming on sud- 
denly, there is little likelihood of anything being at hand. 
Get the little one into a hot bath; put it in, clothes and 
all, supporting the body with one hand, while with the 
other, the water may be dashed about it. As the bath cools, 
add more hot water, until relaxation occurs; then wrap 
the child in warm blankets. When reaction ensues, the 
wet clothes may be removed, the body rubbed, and the night- 
robe put on. A hot-water bottle placed under the back of 
the neck, will prevent a return of the spasm. It is there 
the small mass of brain matter is located which controls 
respiration, circulation, and other vital functions. 

When there is not sufficient hot water at hand to put 
the child into a full bath, relaxation may be brought about 
by turning the child on its face, and pouring hot water 
from a pitcher over the back of the neck and base of the 
brain. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 327 

Four causes for convulsions are assigned : — 

1. Breathing impure air for a length of time. Thereby 
the blood is deteriorated, and healthy functions of the brain 
interfered with. 

2. Overloading the stomach. Some offending substance 
in stomach or bowels, either as to quantity or quality, irri- 
tates the nervous system. 

3. The presence of worms in the digestive tract. 

4. Long pressure of teeth upon the dental nerves. 
Two or more of these causes may be present at once, 

making the spasm more severe. 

After the bath, a copious enema of warm water relieves 
the lower bowel of all effete matter, and assists in the 
recovery. 

Care should be used to ascertain the cause, and a future 
attack guarded against. 

At this time, paralysis of one side (Hemiplegia) some- 
times occurs in children poorly nourished. While running 
in play, they may stumble and fall, and the paralysis dates 
from that time. This may affect first one side of the body 
then the other, until the child slowly recovers. The out- 
come is uncertain. There may be no further recurrence 
until puberty, after which, if he recovers from the second 
attack, he will in all probability suffer no further trouble. 

Treatment: Strict observance of hygiene, nourishing 
food, and daily applications of the interrupted current of 
electricity, of three to five minutes' duration, will do much 
to relieve this condition. 

Other diseases often occur during the period of teeth- 



328 FEMINOLOGY. 

ing that are in no way dependent upon dentition as the 
cause. A general observation to be recommended for this 
period, is for mothers to see that the head is kept cool, the 
extremities warm, and use discretion as to food and the 
hours of feeding. 

3. Disorders from Imperfect Digestion. — Flatu- 
lence, or wind-colic, is one of the common early torments of 
life. It is induced by overfeeding, by artificial food that 
disagrees, or, in early infancy, by the retention of the 
meconium. When the attacks occur frequently, it will be 
noticed they come at stated intervals, and a warm bath 
given before the expected hour, will often forestall them. 
For the immediate relief of this phase of colic, sal volatile 
in the proportion of one dram to three ounces of water is 
given in teaspoonful doses, about ten or fifteen minutes 
apart, until the pain subsides. Warm sweet oil rubbed 
over the abdomen will hasten the relief, the massage being 
very soothing to pain. An injection of not more than two 
ounces of weak catnip tea will open the bowels, and assist 
away anything offensive. 

Chavasse says, truly, " Prevention, whenever it be pos- 
sible, is better than cure." 

Overfeeding, a fruitful source of indigestion and many 
other ills, is avoided by adherence to regular hours for 
feeding. 

Children are sometimes born with a predisposition to 
colic, owing to the mother's having been badly nourished 
during gestation. She should know before hand that the 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 329 

diet should abound in nitrogenous elements and phosphates, 
rather than an oversupply of starchy fat, and sweet foods, 
as is quite common. 

Colic from indigestion occurs most frequently between 
the ages of two and six months. As a preventive, a mixed 
diet should not be allowed, the child to be confined to the 
breast; or, if fed artificially, to the infant food that best 
agrees with it. 

Derangement of the liver causes intense paroxysms of 
colic. 

Opiates or soothing sirups must never be given. 

Griping is caused by some objectionable element in the 
food supply. In nursing infants, the fault is to be found in 
the mother's diet. If the fruit diet has not been used before 
and after confinement, any acid fruit used by the mother 
will cause the babe to suffer. Pork, pickles, cabbage, beer, 
or drastic purgatives are apt to induce griping in the child, 
if partaken of by its mother. 

The symptoms of gripes are, drawn-up legs, straining 
as though having a passage, violent screams. If the bowels 
act, the matter is slimy, curdled, and perhaps green. 

The offending matter should be eliminated from the 
system as soon as maybe, by a mild aperient, or a warm 
water enema. 

The paroxysm of pain will be relieved by a flannel 
wrung out of warm water, and laid over the abdomen, 
and the child wrapped in a warm, dry blanket. Sleep will 
follow this simple treatment, as a rule, and the babe will 
awaken, free from pain and refreshed. After which, the 



330 FEMIN0L0GY. 

damp clothing should be changed for that entirely warm 
and dry. 

Regard as to the kind of food must be the mother's 
future care. If the attacks become common occurrences, 
" watery gripes " may develop, which is of so serious a 
nature as to require the doctor's immediate attention. 

Aphtha, or thrush, is an infantile disease rarely occur- 
ring after six months of age. It consists of minute ulcers, 
white and irregular in shape, which line the inside of the 
mouth, and in severe cases, extend through the alimentary 
tract. Children of scrofulous parents are predisposed to 
it; but in other instances, regular hours for feeding, and 
no mixed diet, will prevent. Sometimes, a watery diarrhea 
results from aphtha; but it is rarely a serious disorder, 
passing away in a few days, according to the skill in treat- 
ing it. 

To wash the mouth with a weak solution of borax and 
water will cure the ulcers, while calcined magnesia will 
correct the acid condition of the stomach. Or, apply the 
treatment recommended for ulcers of the mouth, during 
dentition. 

" Diarrhea is a common and often a grave malady of 
children. In babyhood, overfeeding, cold, improper food, 
or teething, will cause a looseness of the bowels. If the 
child does not seem in pain, or has not lost his appetite, 
nothing should be done to check the discharge. It is no 
more than nature's effort to overcome derangement or 
obstruction. At the same time, it should be watched; and 
if the motions become slimy and green, or contain undi- 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 331 

gested food, and have a strong, disagreeable odor; if the 
child strains, or seems in pain, the trouble has reached a 
stage where it should be controlled. 

The child should be put to bed, and heat applied to 
the extremities. In the treatment of diarrhea, quiet is 
one of the absolute essentials to recovery. A warm-water 
enema often brings back normal conditions, without re- 
course to medicine. Water is at once the most harmless 
and helpful of remedies, and is so plentiful that none should 
want. Wherever it can be used to forestall a dose of medi- 
cine, it should be used, and the system will be the better 
for it. 

A few doses of the following will invariably cleanse the 
bowels of offending material, and reduce the number of 
evacuations to normal : — 

1$ Sirup Rhei et Pot. (Merrills) . . . . 1 ounce. 

Fl. Ex. Dioscorea 1 dram. 

Simple Sirup, q.s. ad 2 ounces. 

M. S. To children under six years, one-half teaspoonful 
every half hour; six years or over, one teaspoonful every 
half hour, until relieved. 

Dysentery is an aggravated diarrhea, which wastes the 
strength rapidly. Inflammation of the rectum and large 
intestine has begun, and unless checked, will end life. The 
appetite failing, all the residuum from food previously taken 
is soon passed away, and the straining brings away blood 
and mucus from the intestinal lining. The stomach sym- 
pathizes with the pain, and vomiting further exhausts the 
strength. 



332 FEMINOLOGY. 

This disease should not be allowed to run. Simple 
measures are often all that is needed; as, care in adminis- 
tering food, the soothing warm bath, or fomentation over 
the abdomen. Inject into the bowel, and retain as long 
as possible the following : — 

One pint peppermint infusion. 

One teaspoonful powdered hydrastis. 

One-half grain capsicum. 

One of the worst cases under my observation was cured 
by three injections of the above, the patient sipping at inter- 
vals some of the mixture. I also had the nurse bathe the 
patient's feet in hot water, into which a handful of capsicum 
and mustard had been thrown. Diet was of soft foods, — 
rice, soft-boiled egg, cornmeal gruel with cream, roast 
apple, etc. 

Summer complaint, or cholera infantum, is, as its name 
indicates, a hot-weather disease, caused by the heat, bad 
air, or improper food. In cities, it is especially fatal. It 
is attended with fever, a rapid pulse, purging, vomiting, 
and great thirst, which increase until consciousness is lost, 
and the end of life approaches. 

In treating this disease, the following is recommended, 
in addition to securing pure air and pure food : — 

" Into one quart of cornmeal pour boiling water in 
sufficient quantity to form a poultice of proper consistency. 
Before spreading, add one teaspoonful of red pepper, and 
two dessert-spoonfuls of mustard, stirring until thoroughly 
mixed. Spread between two flannel cloths, and lay over 
the stomach and bowels; it will not burn or blister the 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 333 

tender flesh. Then wrap the child in a woolen blanket or 
shawl, and feed a little warm camomile tea. 

" This treatment has been the means of restoring babes 
to life, when the passages have been as numerous as thirty 
a day, arid when life had been despaired of." 

Cholera infantum may be prevented. It is not a dis- 
ease that comes suddenly. 

The child disposed to bowel trouble should always wear 
a flannel band about the abdomen. At night, he should 
be covered by blankets so fastened that he cannot become 
uncovered and chilled, though he should not be too warm. 
If the child is nursing, the mother must not allow herself 
to partake of unwholesome food or drink. Ice water should 
not be used, and she must not overwork. Plenty of fresh 
air, pure food at regular intervals, pure water with the 
strained juice of acid fruit for drink, are preventives of 
this malady. Let the little one go barefoot, and, if pos- 
sible, have a sandpile to play in. 

" A child that has a sandpile to play in, and is allowed 
to run barefoot, must be of a very delicate organization, 
if he can have summer complaint," says Tokology. 

Constipation, or inactivity of the bowels, is, of course, 
the opposite of diarrhea. Some children are habitually 
troubled with a lack of free and full discharge from the 
bowels. To both children and adults, this affliction brings 
other ailments in its train. 

The large intestine, with the kidneys and bladder, form 
the sewer system of the body. If the refuse matter packed 
away in the colon is not passed out of the body, germs 



334 FEMINOLOGY. 

bred in the putrefaction, are absorbed into the circulation, 
and the kidneys, lungs, and perspiratory glands are over- 
taxed to eliminate this impurity from the system. In time, 
there must be a breaking down in some of these organs, 
if the constipation is not overcome. All portions of the 
delicate and wonderful machinery of the body are inter- 
dependent. Laxative medicines should not be used, as the 
difficulty is thereby increased. They excite secretions which 
are poured into the intestines, and dissolve the residuum 
packed therein. But the unusual exertion of the forces is 
followed by a corresponding exhaustion, and the same 
means become necessary again and again, until no cathartic 
is strong enough to force the system to work. 

It would be a blessed thing, says Chavasse, if a babe 
could be brought up without a particle of opening medi- 
cine; his bowels would then act naturally and well; but 
then a mother must be particular in attending to nature's 
medicines — fresh air, exercise, diet, thorough ablution, etc. 

Should a child be predisposed by heredity to this trou- 
blesome complaint, very much benefit may be derived by 
the use of warm-water enemas and attention to diet. When 
a nursing child is so affected, the trouble is usually afflicting 
the mother also. Her diet should be changed at once, 
eschewing tea, coffee, cocoa, hot breads, pastry, cake, salt 
meat, salt fish, potatoes, cheese, etc. The meals may con- 
sist of a choice of celery, onions, peas, corn, wild game, 
oysters, graham breads and mush, fruit pies, fruit pud- 
dings, stewed peaches, prunes, figs, baked apples, etc. The 
diet may be varied by intermixing the foods that are laxa- 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 335 

tive and those not, having care, of course, that the major 
portion be of the laxatives. A child old enough to be fed, 
can have the diet so regulated that constipation will be but 
a name to him. 

The functions of the body are largely controlled by the 
law of periodicity. In the case of an infant, regular habits 
can be established by holding it over the chamber vessel, 
at given periods daily, thus doing away with soiled nap- 
kins, and establishing regular action in the natural functions. 

Prolapse of the bowel is a difficulty often present as 
the result of either prolonged constipation or diarrhea, being 
directly due to straining or bearing down on the part of 
the child, in order to evacuate the bowels. An irritation 
or inflammation is thereby caused, and the bowel, losing 
its elasticity is forced through the opening. It becomes 
swollen and chafes, and is chafed by every movement of 
the buttocks. When the prolapse is slight, it returns itself, 
but otherwise the child's mother or nurse must see to its 
return, and to correcting the disorder that caused it. The 
hand should be washed clean, and the nail of the fore- 
finger closely trimmed. The child should be laid across 
the lap, and the parts gently sponged and anointed with 
witch-hazel salve, vaseline, or sweet oil; the afflicted bowel 
may then be gently pushed well upward. The child should 
lie down in quiet for a time. If the prolapse be of frequent 
occurrence, the diet, baths, and exercise should all be given 
special regard, that there will be no extreme in digestive 
action. 

Indigestion, both acute and chronic, occurs in child- 



336 FEMINOLOGY. 

hood, as well as in adult life. In the acute form, the child 
suffers from pain in the stomach, nausea, headache, or 
dizziness. Relief is gained by vomiting, either by use of 
an emetic or by placing a finger back in the throat. After 
the offending material is removed, normal functions are 
resumed. Repeated acute attacks, from overeating or from 
some unaccustomed article of food not easily digested, will 
bring on chronic irritability of the lining of the stomach, 
which may be cured by total abstinence from food, until 
normal hunger is felt. 

After an attack of indigestion, the stomach should be 
allowed to rest; only a little pure water or bran and water 
should be given, to allay any sensation of thirst or hunger. 

4. Disorders Arising from Colds. — Cold, or chill, 
may be named as frequent a complaint as any beginning 
with birth. A newborn babe usually encounters a tempera- 
ture much lower than that of its mother's body; and, as 
is often the case, it is left without protection until after the 
first bath. Life, as an individual, begins with a cold. 

An even temperature preserved in the lying-in room, 
and the infant protected from drafts, soon establishes nor- 
mal health. 

Diseases affecting the air passages are difficult to fore- 
stall in the climate of the larger portion of the United 
States. Some localities generate conditions favorable to 
the development of such maladies, vicissitudes from heat to 
cold often bringing extremes. 

A cold is induced by exposure, which causes a contrac- 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 



337 



tion of the pores of the skin, thus checking the insensible 
perspiration. An increased duty is thereby thrown upon 
the air passages and other internal organs, causing more 
or less derangement. Insufficient clothing, thinly clad 
extremities, extremes of temperature, may occasion cold; 
and the organ that gives way, or becomes deranged by it, 
gives name to the disease. 

Whatever form of malady the cold is about to take, it 
usually begins with sensations of chilliness, languor, loss 
of appetite, accompanied by a slight rise in temperature. 
The most common forms are cold in the head, sore throat, 
bronchitis, pneumonia, and cold affecting the stomach and 
bowels. 

When a child, by fever, fretfulness, or chilling, shows 
indications of having taken cold, steps must be taken to 
bring on a reaction. The pores of the skin being closed, 
they must be opened. The first to be done is to confine 
the patient in a warm room, until the attack is cured. 
Changing temperature constantly, puts off a cure indefi- 
nitely. A hot bath administered, the body thoroughly 
rubbed, the child wrapped in warm blankets, and given an 
infusion of lemon and flaxseed, will usually bring the de- 
sired reaction. The infusion is made as follows : Two 
tablespoonfuls of whole flaxseed; half a peeled lemon; a 
handful of raisins cut in two; one ounce of white rock 
candy; one pint of boiling water. When it has steeped a 
half hour, it may be freely given. 

The diet should be light for a day or so, according to 
the severity of the cold; bread and milk, meat broths, rice, 

22 



338 FEMIXOLOGY. 

oatmeal, etc., may be allowed. The child should be encour- 
aged to drink all the liquid he will, as water, milk, and 
lemonade, to encourage the normal action of the skin. This 
general treatment will overcome an ordinary cold. 

As a general preventive of sudden chilling, the daily 
cold bath is recommended. 

Said one woman, " It seems to me that my children 
always begin the winter with a cold, and are never free 
from one until the genial sun of spring begins to shine. 
I wish I knew the ounce of prevention." 

" It is so simple/'' replied another, " that you will 
scarcely believe it. From the baby up, give them a cold 
bath every morning, if possible. If the entire bath cannot 
be managed, at least sponge the throat and chest, and rub 
briskly with a coarse towel, until the skin is aglow. I do 
not recommend a cold bath in a cold room, but one can 
even become accustomed to that Spartan measure. My 
boy of thirteen would as soon miss his breakfast as his 
cold morning sponge." 

Of course, the body, night and day, should be protected 
against too sudden change of temperature, by woolens. 
The hands and feet of tiny tots should be noticed often, 
for a child of five years or younger, seems insensible to the 
pain of cold, and will not complain, if the feet are like 
blocks of ice. Cold lowers vitality. It kills the cells, which 
are the smallest form of life, and which sustain the body. 
Always before retiring, children should be taught to warm 
the feet, and a hot-water bottle placed in the crib or bed, 
will add comfort and call the blood to the extremities. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 339 

When the throat is affected by the cold, in addition to 
the general treatment, frequent inhalations of steam are valu- 
able in effecting a cure. Let the child throw a towel over 
his head, and drop it over a pitcher or jar of hot water, 
and for some minutes inhale the vapor arising. A little 
pine tar added to the boiling water adds a pleasant medi- 
cinal effect. An external application of lard and turpen- 
tine on a flannel cloth may be bound about the throat, 
which will divert the inflammation from the mucous lining. 

Bronchitis is a catarrhal inflammation of the lining of 
the bronchial tubes, which, in severer form, extends to the 
minute tubes, and becomes capillary bronchitis, a dangerous 
malady. 

There is a frequent, troublesome cough, which at first 
only increases the irritation, without relieving the air pas- 
sages of accumulated mucus, and exhausts the patient. The 
cough has been compared, in effect, to a person constantly 
scratching an external sore, which makes the trouble worse, 
instead of better. The sooner the cough is controlled, the 
quicker the patient recovers. 

The chest, back and front, may be thoroughly rubbed 
with camphorated oil, or hartshorn and oil. A poultice of 
cornmeal, or linseed meal, may be used to cure the irrita- 
tion; it should be changed whenever it begins to cool, the 
heat being the needed element to effect a cure. When 
chunks of mucus are coughed up without much effort, the 
trouble is abating. In treating bronchitis, it is imperative 
that an even temperature of from 65 ° to jo° Fahrenheit 
be maintained. 



340 FEMINOLOGY. 

Give the following: — 

IJ Fl. Ex. Amphiachyris 2 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Asclepias 1 dram. 

Fl. Ex. Lobelia Comp y 2 dram. 

Simple Sirup q.s. ad 4 ounces. 

Dose : To children under six years, one-half teaspoonful 
every half hour, followed by two tablespoonfuls of hot 
water. When the skin becomes warm and moist, to be 
given every two hours. 

Pneumonia, inflammation of the lungs, or congestion 
of the lungs, is a dangerous condition. Exposure drives 
the blood from the surface to the lungs, and some exudes 
through the walls of the air-cells. Usually, the exposure 
to cold and damp has been lengthy, and the child comes 
suddenly into a hot room. There will remain cold and 
creepy sensations, slight fever, and aching joints. It should 
never be allowed to pass this point, as prompt measures 
will then prevent congestion. The hot bath must be used, 
and hot teas given to produce reaction. Give of the med- 
icine prescribed for Bronchitis. The chest should be rubbed 
with stimulating liniment. The more serious symptoms 
of pneumonia follow the first chilliness, if the case is not 
then handled. There is a sudden and prolonged chill, fol- 
lowed by headache, fever, and painful breathing. A dry 
cough is present; delirium comes on. 

It is now too serious for home treatment. No time 
should be lost in procuring medical assistance. The turn- 
ing point in the disease occurs the seventh or eighth day. 
If the patient has a turn for the better, the breathing 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 341 

becomes easier, the pain subsides, cough loosens, and the 
skin becomes moist. Otherwise, the unfavorable symptoms 
increase in serious aspect. 

Cold affecting the stomach and bowels is little likely 
to be serious. There is pain and tenderness in the stomach 
and abdomen, accompanied by diarrhea. The diet should 
be simple, in order to forestall indigestion. The grand- 
mothers are wont to say it is always best, when the cold 
is " worked off through the bowels." 

5. Affections of the Throat. — These maladies bear 
some relation to cold or chill. Other sources of inflam- 
mation may be, inhaling impure air, drinking impure water, 
infection, and various other causes. The child should be 
frequently required, during health, to have his throat looked 
into, in order that it may not be impossible in time of dis- 
ease. He should stand with face to the light; and, while 
opening the mouth, and flattening the tongue, he may inhale 
a deep breath, and say, " ah-a-a-h-h," prolonged till the 
examiner is satisfied. 

Chronic enlargement of the tonsils is an affection not 
usually the result of inflammation; but where there is a 
tendency toward enlargement, each new disturbance in- 
creases the size, until they often touch each other in the 
center of the throat. Sometimes the enlargement is on but 
one side. The disorder from chronic enlargement of the ton- 
sils is merely in obstructing the breathing; in time, this brings 
about alteration in the shape of the chest, known as pigeon- 
breast, and the breathing capacity becomes weakened. 



342 FEMINOLOGY. 

The first noticeable symptom of this impediment is per- 
sistent snoring at night. The throat should then be exam- 
ined. If the enlargement cannot be reduced, the tonsils 
should be removed. The physician should be consulted 
when the enlargement is known to be chronic. Much may 
be done by building up the general health, and by persist- 
ently gargling some astringent preparation. Half a tea- 
spoonful of the Myrica Compound (Thomson's), and a 
drop or two of the tincture of kino in half a glass of water, 
is excellent. 

Catarrhal inflammation of the throat is recognized by 
a sense of dryness, with discomfort in swallowing. If 
the child is old enough to talk, he will describe the sensa- 
tions. Hoarseness is a usual accompaniment. The treat- 
ment mainly consists in the maintenance of warmth; com- 
presses of cold water may be applied externally to the throat, 
and the child confined to bed, if triere are symptoms of 
fever. As in case of affections from cold, the bowels should 
be kept active. Gargle, same as above. 

Tonsilitis, or quinsy, is inflammation of the tonsils. 
There is hoarseness, difficulty in swallowing and in breath- 
ing; points of ulceration may be seen elevated above the 
surrounding surface. These small ulcers swell, and dis- 
charge in three or four days; larger abscesses may form 
and continue longer, causing much local suffering, with 
headache, loss of appetite, furred tongue, and constipation. 

Water compresses, poultices, or liniment, are helpful 
external applications; while a solution of borax may be 
gargled or sprayed. The bowels should be kept active, and 
the strength sustained by a simple but nourishing diet. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 343 

After the ulcers have broken, a gargle of the infusion of 
gum kino will consolidate the tissues. 

Children should not be allowed, while suffering with 
inflammations of the throat, to come in close contact with 
other children; as to sleep with them or kiss them. While 
all such diseases may not be infectious, unhealthy condi- 
tions should not be brought too closely in contact with 
children in health. 

If taken in the early stages, an attack of quinsy may 
be aborted by freely gargling the following : — 

R Eucalyptus 6 drams. 

Xanthoxylum 2 drams. 

Mix. Teaspoonful in half glass water (do not swallow). 

Diphtheria is a name to strike terror to the hearts of 
parents, being a malady very dangerous to the life of a 
child. It is contagious, and is due to absorption of a poi- 
sonous substance produced by a specific germ — the diph- 
theria bacillus. The germ itself does not produce the 
disease. Unhygienic surroundings increase its virulence. 
The disease, like others of a serious nature, begins with 
chilliness and headache; there is slight difficulty in swal- 
lowing, and upon examination, the throat will be observed 
to be swollen and red, and perhaps glistening with white 
patches. Whenever a child complains of sore throat, and 
has fever, he should be isolated and precautions used, until 
it is determined whether or not diphtheria is the cause. 

As the disease progresses, a membrane forms over the 
throat and tonsils, and, in severe form, spreads into the 



344 FEMINOLOGY. 

nasal passage and windpipe, making croup extremely prob- 
able. The membrane peels off in bits, and the child coughs 
up quantities of it ; but it forms again rapidly, as the malady 
runs its course. 

At the beginning of the disease, the sickroom should 
be denuded of carpets, curtains, and draperies, and the 
floor daily wiped with a cloth wrung from a disinfectant 
solution. All bedding, towels, and clothing must be soaked 
in a disinfectant preparation, and washed and boiled alone; 
likewise, all dishes and spoons. The sanitary condition of 
the house must be looked into and improved, to facilitate 
recovery of the child who is ill. 

The room must be kept warm, well ventilated, and 
the air saturated with steam in which carbolic acid and 
iodine have been mixed. 

Tonsilitis bears some resemblance to diphtheria in the 
sore throat and feverishness, but the character of the patches 
upon the tonsils serves to distinguish. In tonsilitis, the 
patches appear in small points all over the surface of the 
tonsils, and are of a dirty, yellowish color, which, after 
a time, discharge matter. In diphtheria, the patches are 
one or more of irregular shape, at first white, and later of 
a deep yellow, which changes to gray or black, with a leath- 
ery appearance. 

Tonsilar patches can be scraped off with the handle 
of a spoon; diphtheritic membrane cannot be separated. 
And if the patches appear on the roof of the mouth or 
inside of the cheek, the distinction is no longer to be doubted 
as diphtheria. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 345 

This malady is sometimes complicated with measles or 
scarlet fever, either disease being very exhausting to the 
child afflicted. One attack of diphtheria does not give 
immunity from the disease. 

Treatment, local; gargle vinegar, salt, and pepper. Fat 
pork sprinkled with red pepper, applied to external surface 
of throat and covered with flannel, will soften the glands. 

When the membrane forms, cut it with a spray of 
peroxide of hydrogen, using it every two or three hours, 
and follow with a spray of bovinine. Sulphur, potash, and 
myrrh should also be used at intervals. 

Constitutional: Have the bowels thoroughly evacuated, 
as soon as the throat is known to be sore. 

To induce perspiration, give the following: — 

B Fl. Ex. Myrica Conip. (Thomsen's) .3 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Asclepias 2 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Serpentaria 1 dram. 

Tc. Echinacea 1 dram. 

Sirup Ginger q.s. ad 4 ounces. 

Dose : Teaspoonful in warm water, every hour. 

For sustaining the circulation, give phosphate of hydras- 
tia, quinine, and capsicum, one grain each of the former, 
and half grain of the latter, every two hours. 

Croup is an acute inflammatory disease of the windpipe, 
or of the glottis, larynx, and windpipe. It rarely occurs 
in a child under one year, or over ten. It is marked by 
laborious, suffocated breathing, a short, dry cough, and 
expectoration of a mass of membranous sputum. Two vari- 



346 FEMINOLOGY. 

eties of this malady are recognized: the spasmodic, which 
may recur frequently, and the membranous, which rarely 
recurs in the same child. Spasmodic croup lasts but a 
few hours, and is seldom fatal; while membranous croup 
lasts from three to seven days, and is fatal in half the cases. 

Certain localities generate conditions for croup, more 
than others, the cold, damp places being worst. 

Spasmodic croup comes on suddenly, generally at night. 
Within two or three hours after being in bed for the night, 
the child awakens apparently choked and struggling for 
breath. The cough is loud and ringing, and the difficulty 
in breathing is frightful to see. 

An emetic should be administered as soon as possible, 
and a cloth wrung from hot water held to the throat. Syrup 
of ipecac or syrup of lobelia may be given every few min- 
utes, until free vomiting is induced, after which relief fol- 
lows. A full warm bath brings the quickest alleviation, 
but it is seldom possible in these sudden cases. After one 
attack, the emetic should be kept on hand constantly. Atten- 
tion must be given the bowels, as the attacks are more 
severe if there is constipation. The tendency to spasmodic 
croup is lessened by keeping the air of the sleeping room 
saturated with steam. 

Membranous croup, also called true croup, appears at 
first like an ordinary cold, with a dry cough; the child is 
feverish, fretful, and hoarse when he cries. Hoarseness 
is one of the earliest recognizable symptoms, and the little 
one must be watched, that prompt measures may be taken 
should further symptoms develop. Should the voice, at 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 347 

length, become gruff, the cough crowing, and the breath 
as though through muslin, it proves the malady is estab- 
lished; and the doctor should be sent for immediately. 
Meantime, the child should be immersed in a warm bath, 
and the emetic given every few minutes, till vomiting is 
free. Everything depends on his freeing himself of the 
membrane, by vomiting. After the bath, a large sponge 
taken out of water as hot as can be borne, should be kept 
to the throat, and renewed frequently. 

The diet should be simple, the room well ventilated, 
and the temperature even. The steam kettle should be over 
the fire constantly, until the attack is over. Many empty 
cradles and broken hearts might be avoided, did mothers 
but know the early symptoms of this malady, and check 
them in time. 

Child-crowing is an attack resembling spasmodic croup, 
the distinguishing points being the absence of cough, tend- 
ency to convulsive motions, and the complete arrest of 
breathing. If at all severe, there is danger of death from 
smothering, as the epiglottis is entirely closed during the 
spasm. 

This disorder usually takes the form of a sudden con- 
vulsive attack, appearing during apparent health. The child 
becomes rigid, the face livid, head thrown backward, and 
eyes staring. Occasionally, there is some slight convulsive 
motion of the hands and feet. As the spasm passes, the 
breath is drawn in with a crowing sound; hence the name. 

For the immediate treatment of an attack, a sponge 
wrung out of hot water should be applied to the throat ; 



348 FEMINOLOGY. 

and a bottle of ammonia held to the nostrils, is useful in 
relaxing the spasm. The hot bath here, as elsewhere, is 
invaluable for relaxing the contracted muscles. The fore- 
finger may be placed in the child's mouth, and the tongue 
pulled forward. This opens the epiglottis, and furnishes 
relief, until general relaxation can be brought on. A sharp 
smack on the thighs and back is sometimes helpful. What- 
ever is done, must be done quickly. 

Chavasse is authority for the statement that child-crow- 
ing occurs only during dentition. 

6. Skin Affections. — During the earlier years of life 
the skin is particularly sensitive, and sympathizes with 
various disturbances of the general health. Those of a 
simple, noninfectious character will be considered under 
this head. 

Eczema, salt-rheum, or tetter (see lithographic plate), 
is not uncommon among children, especially in a mild form. 
It may be the result of hereditary predisposition developed 
by residence on unsuitable soil, or in a climate favorable 
to its manifestation; from the irritation from teething, or 
a diet not suitable. It commonly appears in the angles of 
the joints, or upon the scalp. The skin appears reddened 
and more dry than usual, with an itching irritation, espe- 
cially troublesome during the night. As the disease pro- 
gresses, the skin cracks, and a fluid exudes, giving a moist 
appearance to the afflicted part. 

The duration of the disease seems to be indefinite; it 
may last days, weeks, months, or longer; and while not 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 



Plate IY. 







si 



Crusted or Honey-comb Ringworm -Favus. 

p. 366. 




fy 

Rmgworra of Scalp -Tinea tonsurans. 

p367 





Bald Spots.- Tinea decalvans. -Alopeci; 



p.369. 





Spotted Rose Rashr Erythema nodosum 



p.349 



Running Scab or Moist Tetter -Ecxema. 



p. 3 4© 



Nettle Rash -Urticaria. 



p350 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 



349 



of itself dangerous, the irritation of its presence may seri- 
ously affect health. 

At the beginning of the trouble, digestion should be 
regarded. Sugar should be used sparingly, and meat 
avoided; the bowels should be kept freely active Soap 
should not be used in the bath, but in its stead, a teaspoon- 
ful of borax may be dissolved in the water. An ointment 
of borax and goldenseal rubbed in vaseline, may be used 
to allay the irritation. (See Treatment, Psoriasis.) 

Heat-spots appear very often during the summer months 
on both children and adults. They occur in clusters upon 
the neck, arms, shoulders, back, thighs, and legs, but sel- 
dom upon the face, and are sometimes mistaken for chicken- 
pox, in its early stages. Food containing an abundant 
supply of heat-producing elements, as an excess of meat, 
butter, and sugar, should be avoided, in order to correct this 
trouble. The bowels must be kept active. The irritation 
is soothed by a bath in which soda has been dissolved, and 
anointing the parts with vaseline or cold cream. 

Roseola, or rose-rash (Erythema nodosum; see plate), 
is another skin affection due to disturbed digestion, and 
of slight importance. It is liable to be confounded with 
the early stages of scarlet fever, or measles, and, until it 
is discovered not to be either, the child should be isolated 
from the family and all others but the nurse. It appears 
as a rose-colored rash, covering the entire body, or at other 
times, only part of it. There is little or no fever, although 
there may be a lack of appetite, feelings of nausea, and a 
coated tongue. The spots of the rash vary in size, from 



350 FEMINOLOGY. 

a pin point to a split pea, and are most marked on the chest 
and abdomen. There is no cough as in measles, nor sore- 
ness of the throat as in scarlet fever. The difficulty in 
distinguishing this from contagious skin diseases, will be 
obviated in twenty-four hours, in the lack of development 
of distinct fever and other symptoms. 

When no fever exists, the child will not need to be con- 
fined to his bed, but the diet should be light and of easy 
digestion. 

Nettle-rash, or hives (see plate), is an eruptive dis- 
ease, not serious, although very annoying while it lasts. 
Although the difficulty appears on the surface of the body, 
the cause is in digestive derangement. Some article of 
food is taken into the stomach, which may not be of diffi- 
cult digestion, but which proves irritating to the individual 
child. The blotches which appear are hard, irregular, and 
elevated, and accompanied by sensations of tingling and 
itching, which, at times, seem intolerable. All efforts at 
relief by scratching do not avail. The most marked fea- 
ture of the malady is the suddenness with which the blotches 
appear and disappear on the surface of the body, without 
leaving a trace behind. 

The irritation may be soothed by a warm bath, in which 
a spoonful of soda has been dissolved. The diet must be 
simplified, and the bowels cleansed by a warm enema. The 
child must not be allowed to catch cold, as the hives will 
disappear from the surface, and cause a sickening disturb- 
ance in the digestive apparatus. 

Some children suffer from hives whenever the stomach 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 351 

is at all deranged. Honey, cucumbers, strawberries, buck- 
wheat, pork, etc., may be noted as sources of hives, in 
various cases. 

Honey scab — pustular tetter — impetigo (see plate) 
is a contagious, inflammatory disease of the skin, showing 
in blebs on the face, scalp, and hands, and rarely on other 
parts. They may attain the size of a dime, and when close 
together, coalesce, forming a large patch. The vesicles dry 
down to a thin, yellowish crust, and soon drop off, leaving 
a faint red spot. Itching may or may not be present. 

The effect of treatment is prompt. ( See Psoriasis. ) 

Herpes Zoster, or Shingles (see plate), may be known 
by groups of vesicles situated over or along a nerve tract. 
It is usually confined to one side of the body, between the 
region of the chest and waist line. It has been said that 
if the eruption encircles the body, death will ensue. This 
is without foundation, for the reason that the nerves do 
not encircle the body. 

This eruption is due to inflammation of the nerve cells, 
or of the nerve trunks and branches, due to cold, injury, 
anemia, or to the use of arsenicum. Their appearance is 
accompanied by neuralgic pains of a burning character. 
The vesicles are pinhead in size, situated on a bright-red 
base. The affection is limited to about two weeks' duration. 

Treatment: Electricity applied to the region of the 
spine will give relief, as will also an ointment of lanolin, 
one ounce, and boracic acid, one-half dram, rubbed on twice 
daily. 

Diffuse Dry Tetter — Psoriasis Vulgaris [Gr. psora, the 



352 FEMIXOLOGY. 

itch] — an eruptive disease of the skin met with in per- 
sons of depleted vitality. It may be due to syphilitic ances- 
tors, intemperance, or to depressing passions. It makes its 
appearance usually between the ages of eight and twenty- 
five. The favorite location of this disease is on the extensor 
surfaces of the limbs, especially the elbows and knees. The 
eruption appears in the form of red spots or blotches, irregu- 
lar in form, slightly elevated, and covered with thin, dry 
scales, usually accompanied by intense itching ; it is not con- 
tagious. (See plate.) 

Another form of psoriasis is that known as Circular 
Dry Tetter. The patches are scattered over the general sur- 
face, where they remain for a time, and beginning at the 
central portion, gradually disappear, only to reappear else- 
where. As the name indicates, they are ring-shaped. The 
patches may become chapped, and slight injury cause 
bleeding. (See plate.) 

Psoriasis is not to be confounded with eczema or ring- 
worm, the patches being more sharply defined than those 
of eczema; and by its great scaliness, a greater degree of 
inflammation, and the larger number of patches, distin- 
guished from ringworm. 

Treatment, constitutional : The bowels must move freely 
every day. 

5 Trif olium Compound 4 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Dioscorea 2 drams. 

Simple Sirup, q.s. ad 4 ounces. 

Dose: Teaspoonful four times daily. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 353 

Local : Either of the following, applied twice daily, after 
a tepid bath, will assist in effecting a cure : — 



IJ Vaseline 1 ounce. 

Sulphate of Hydrastia 5 grains. 

Pulv. Borax J/2 dram. 

Mix. 



I? Salicylic Acid ^2 dram. 

Glycerine 1 ounce. 

Rose water 1 ounce. 

Mix. 

I£ Echinacea 4 drams. 

Boracic Acid 26 grains. 

Distilled water 1 y 2 ounces. 

Mix. 

Sig : This may be applied several times daily. 

There is, perhaps, nothing better to effect a speedy cure 
of any form of skin disease, than exposure to the X-ray. 
A case of eczema, that had resisted treatment for years, 
came into my hands. The affected parts were exposed to 
the rays of a Harvard Static machine, and on the fifth day, 
the eruptions had disappeared, leaving only faint, red patches 
on their site. These, after a time, also disappeared. 

7. Contagious Diseases Common to Children. — 
Under this head may be considered whooping cough, 
mumps, chicken pox, measles, and scarlet fever. Formerly, 
it was thought necessary that children should have all such 
diseases during their early years, and numbers were taken 
23 



354 FEMINOLOGY. 

where they would " catch " the contagion. One attack will 
exempt them from future trouble on that score, but exposure 
to contagion is not to be recommended. These diseases 
rarely occur in isolated cases but come as epidemics, and 
only very hardy children — those also that are well-fed and 
clothed — will resist the contagion should they come in con- 
tact with it. 

Whooping-cough, or pertussis, is characterized by a 
convulsive cough, slight fever, and bronchial inflammation. 
It begins with a cold in the head and fever, the first stage 
lasting from a week to ten days. The cough becomes more 
and more paroxysmal and is very exhausting to the child. 
The little one will instinctively take hold of something for 
support when the spasm begins. The cough at first is dry, 
short, and jerking, becoming louder and louder; the inspira- 
tions of breath being short the face grows purplish; then 
comes a long, shrill breath, called the " whoop," the child 
gags, and a discharge of glairy mucus is thrown out. 

In ordinary cases the only ill effects are loss of flesh 
from vomiting and loss of sleep from coughing. The 
attacks last from six weeks to two months — unless the 
weather be very inclement. If the disease occurs in winter, 
the child will hardly be free from cough until warm wea- 
ther. Neglect in treating it may bring on complications of 
dangerous character ; as, pneumonia, croup, pleurisy, inflam- 
mation of the stomach and bowels, rupture, and various 
others. Consumption may follow it in scrofulous subjects. 

With this disease it is not necessary it should run its 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 355 

course; or at least that its course be necessarily long and 
exhausting. The child must be clothed in woolens next 
the skin, and sleep between blankets at night. The chest 
should be rubbed night and morning with camphorated oil, 
or turpentine and oil, and a breastplate of flannel or chamois 
skin put on to protect the lungs. If the weather is warm 
and mild a short play in the sunshine will be beneficial, 
otherwise the patient should remain indoors. At night the 
paroxysms can be relieved by keeping the air moist with 
steam from water in which has been placed a little carbolic 
acid or creosote. The disease is contagious in its entire 
course. The child may be given either of the following : — 

IJ Fl. Ex. Stigmata Maides iy 2 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Jamaica Dogwood y 2 dram. 

Simple Sirup, q.s. ad 2 ounces. 

M. S. One half to one teaspoonful every two to three 

hours. 

3J Fl. Ex. Castanea 3 drams. 

Magnesia Phos. (3X) 1 dram. 

Simple Sirup, q.s. ad 4 ounces. 

M. S. One teaspoonful four times daily. 

Mumps, or parotitis, is inflammation of the parotid 
gland at the angle of the jaw, and which may extend to the 
other salivary glands; one or both sides of the face may 
be affected. The disease begins with chill, headache, fever, 
and occasionally nausea and vomiting. Local symptoms 
present themselves in the form of swelling and tenderness 
of the sides of the face, with stiffness and pain in moving 



356 FEMINOLOGY. 

the jaw. The swelling and soreness increase for four or 
five days and then begin to subside. It is infectious 
through its whole course; but is not dangerous, unless, as 
sometimes happens, the disease leaves the parotid gland. It 
may migrate to the head, breasts, or in males to the testicles, 
and in females to the ovaries. The older the person the 
more severe the disease, as a rule. 

Active treatment is seldom necessary in mumps. The 
patient should be kept warm, and out of draughts, though 
not necessarily in bed. Hot applications to the jaw will 
relieve the soreness. The diet should be light but nourish- 
ing, and the bowels open. At the first symptoms of the 
disease leaving the jaw, consult the physician. 

Chicken pox (see plate) is a mild eruptive disease 
ushered in with slight headache, a rise of temperature, and 
want of appetite. The eruption appears within twenty-four 
hours, in the form of small red spots at wide intervals over 
the body and extremities, rarely on the forehead, which 
change to vesicles filled with water, and in a few days are 
dried up, leaving scales which drop off. There are itching 
sensations throughout the run of chicken pox. The patient 
should not be allowed to catch cold. 

Measles (see plate) begins with the symptoms of a com- 
mon cold, sneezing, watering and redness of the eyes, and 
running at the nose. There is chilliness followed by fever, 
headache, and a distinctive cough that racks the body. There 
is always more or less difficulty in breathing. In mild cases 
the earlier symptoms may not be present, and the disease 
not recognized until the eruption appears, which is about 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 



Hate V. 










$ a a 

a* 



Scabies or Itch 



( 




p.366. R e d Sum Rash. Simple Lichen or Spotted Heat. 

r r p324. 







[oney Sickness, Honey Scab, or Pustular Tetter 
Impetigo. P- 351 - 















\ & 




1 

1 


|0 




|fj 


I^Rjtl ^On 




;i 















Shingles.- Herpes Zoster. p35i. 



v v ■, 



^X 



it- 



^yV. 



. 



F 

Ik 



•^ 



s 



•A 



Diffuse Dry Tetter,- Psoriasis vulgaris 



Another form of Psoriasis- Circular Dry ft 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 357 

the fourth day. It is most contagious, too, before the 
eruption. Commencing on the face and neck, small half- 
moon-shaped patches spread downward over the whole body 
within twenty-four hours, and the fever increases, often 
rising to 102 Fahrenheit. The rash remains two or three 
days, when it begins to fade in brightness and entirely 
disappears in four or five days. Very little treatment is 
needed in simple attacks of measles. The temperature 
must be kept even, and the diet of easily digested food. 
Much comfort is obtained from frequent sponging of the 
body with tepid water, there being generally some itching 
during the eruption. 

In measles the great risk lies in possible complications 
affecting the lungs. Any exposure to chill is apt to bring 
on acute bronchitis, or pneumonia; the lungs being most 
affected in this disease. Any such complication, as evi- 
denced by rapid breathing, increase of fever, or wheezing 
in the chest, would make the physician's skill a necessity. 

Scarlet Fever (see plate) and scarlatina are names used 
for the same disease, the former meaning a more severe at- 
tack than the latter, in the popular sense. This malady is 
very contagious in all its stages, and most so in the last, the 
stage of desquamation. The severity varies in individual 
cases, and in different epidemics. Sometimes the attack is 
so slight as to cause but a few days' discomfort; at other 
times so serious as to cause death within twenty- four hours. 

The earliest symptoms of scarlet fever are languor, 
drowsiness, chilliness, followed by high fever, sometimes 
reaching 105 , and sore throat. The eruption begins on 



358 FEMINOLOGY. 

the second day as a general flushing and reddening of the 
skin, which, on close inspection, is seen to be caused by 
numberless small scarlet spots. It is first apparent on the 
neck, behind the ears, on the front of the arms near the 
elbows, on the chest and abdomen. The sore throat 
increases with the eruption. Drawing the finger nail along 
the skin over the site of eruption, will produce a white 
line which remains a minute or two before disappearing; 
this is not the case in any other eruptive disease. After 
four or five days the eruption begins to disappear and is 
quite gone by the seventh, when the cuticle begins to shed. 

Measles and scarlet fever are sometimes confounded, 
and, as the treatment for the two maladies is dissimilar, it is 
necessary to distinguish between them. Measles commences 
with the symptoms of a common cold, scarlet fever does 
not; measles has a peculiar cough, scarlet fever has not; 
measles may be known by the crescent-shaped patches raised 
above the skin; in scarlet fever the eruption seems to be 
continuous ; the chest is most affected in measles, the throat 
in scarlet fever. The red tongue with prominent papillae 
— the " strawberry tongue," is characteristic of scarlet 
fever. 

In treating measles the patient should be kept in a warm, 
well- ventilated room; in scarlet fever the room should be 
quite cool, or cold until the eruption begins to fade, and the 
beverages administered should be cold. 

If scarlet fever has no complications, or is not of the 
malignant type, the following treatment is recommended : — 

Send the child to bed, and open the windows, for fresh 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 359 

air is a necessity to recovery. If it is cold or damp weather 
there should be a little fire; if summer, the child should be 
covered only by his night robe and a sheet; if winter, a 
blanket may be added. A poultice may be kept on the 
throat to relieve the soreness. 

No food should be administered but milk and water, 
and toast and water, with pure cold water to drink. In 
fact, there will be no appetite until the fever begins to sub- 
side. The return of appetite indicates the patient has passed 
the danger point. The diet may then consist of bread and 
milk, bread and butter, rice pudding, meat broths, and the 
like. 

A very important item in the treatment is to notice the 
moment the fever begins to subside, and the child complains 
of chilliness. Then the tactics must be reversed. The win- 
dows must be closed except for ventilation, the child warmly 
covered, and the fire made quite warm. This change will 
occur from the fourth to the seventh day, and the nurse 
must watch for it closely. The food should also be made 
quite warm. While the eruption is out no opening medicine 
should be given, but when the change occurs the little one 
should have an infusion of senna, in case the bowels are not 
active. 

As in diphtheria the utmost precaution must be used to 
prevent the spread of the disease. When desquamation 
begins, an ointment of camphorated oil should be applied to 
the skin. It allays irritation, and prevents the particles from 
flaking off and infecting the air. 

With scarlet fever certain conditions may be looked for : 



3<5o FEMINOLOGY. 

affections of the ear; affections of the joints; affections of 
the kidneys; and diphtheria. 

Scarlet fever is exhausting to vitality, and most mothers 
would prefer the direction of a physician in treating the 
disease. When there is complication, as with diphtheria, 
it is rendered more dangerous to life, and should always be 
treated by a skilled physician. 

Smallpox or Variola (see plate) is a contagious disease 
belonging to the class of eruptive fevers. Varioloid is a 
modified form of smallpox in which no secondary fever 
appears, sometimes attacking those who have been vacci- 
nated. There is no disease surer of contraction on expo- 
sure, and which may be contracted at a greater distance, 
than that of smallpox. 

Children and adults alike are subject to this dread dis- 
ease; and it is described in this work because too frequently 
cases of measles, infected by scratching with dirty finger 
nails, are mistaken for that of smallpox, the victims of the 
error suffering quarantine or removal to the pest house. 

Smallpox commences with chill, severe pains in the 
back and loins, lassitude, headache, vomiting. Fever rises 
rapidly, reaching 103 and 104 F., when about the third 
or fourth day the eruption — coarse, red spots, on forehead 
and lips — appears. This eruption gradually extends over 
trunk and extremities, after which the fever abates. Before 
the eruption appears, on passing the hand over the forehead, 
a feeling as of sand underneath the skin may be noticed. 

On the fifth day, the eruptions take the form of papules, 
— small, circumscribed, solid elevations ; on the sixth day, 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 361 

these elevations contain a serous fluid, and are known as 
vesicles; on the seventh day, the vesicles become umbili- 
cated; on the eighth day, they contain pus, and are known 
as pustules; on the ninth day, the pustules become puru- 
lent, and are surrounded by a red band. When numerous, 
the pustules run together, forming an irregular outline, and 
the features become swollen and distorted. This form 
is known as confluent smallpox, and usually occurs in the 
unvaccinated. On the formation of pus (eighth day), 
fever again sets in, which is known as the stage of second- 
ary fever, when all the first symptoms return, and the 
distinctive odor of smallpox is noted. At this period, 
grave complications may arise, as pleuritis, dysentery, etc. 

On the eleventh day, pus oozes from the pustules, and 
crusts, or scabs, begin to form, which fall off in six to 
ten days, leaving a pit, which is at first red and glistening, 
and then changes to a peculiar white color. 

It is recorded that of the vaccinated, the mortality is 
four per cent; of the continent, fifty per cent; under five, 
and over forty years, fifty per cent die. Treatment: At 
the onset, all the functions of the body should be estab- 
lished. No cathartics should be administered after the 
third day. Patient should be confined to a well-ventilated 
room, with an even temperature of 65° F. The strictest 
cleanliness should be observed. To prevent itching in the 
early and later stages, perhaps nothing will give greater 
comfort than an infusion of hydrastis applied on a linen 
cloth. Olive oil applied with a earner s-hair brush will also 
give relief. Delirium and throbbing of the carotids may 



362 FEMINOLOGY. 

be relieved by full doses of black cohosh. The nervous 
and circulatory systems must be sustained. The consci- 
entious physician will use due care to give nothing that 
will increase the number of eruptions on the surface, or 
that will attract the poison to the internal organs. 

Vaccination [Latin vacca, a cow]. — It is a common 
belief that by the artificial production of cowpox, the vac- 
cinate is rendered immune to the contagion of smallpox. 
The operation is usually performed by slightly scratching 
the epidermis until blood appears on the surface, and apply- 
ing the virus on the point of a needle. If successful, a 
small red spot appears in a few days, which increases in 
size, and about the eighth day becomes pustular. Febrile 
symptoms appear, — chill, headache, loss of appetite, etc., 
and occasionally a rose rash, — which subside in a day or 
two. A brown scab forms, which remains from nine days 
to two weeks, and, dropping off, leaves a depression. 

In crowded, unhygienic districts of the city, this pre- 
caution against epidemic is advisable. (See plate.) 

The sweeping mandate- that all children must be vacci- 
nated before entering school, is a menace to the well-being 
of every child, for the reason that if necessary to inject 
at all, this poison should be introduced into the system 
when free from other ill or disorder, and before the con- 
stitution becomes disturbed by the process of teething. The 
too frequent ill effects of vaccination are well known. 

A piece of soft linen should protect the vesicles, and 
if the inflammation be too severe, a cold poultice of bread 
and water may be applied. Keep the bowels active. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 363 

Tyhpoid and typhus fevers have no place in this work. 
Attention is called to the lithographic plates, showing erup- 
tions that occur in the course of these fevers, in distinction 
to other eruptive fevers treated herein. 

8. Constitutional Diseases. — These exist from 
hereditary predisposition, or from unsanitary surroundings, 
the most common being rickets, scrofula, and rheumatism. 

Rickets is insufficient bony development of the system. 
It is characterized by a big head, crooked spine and limbs, 
enlarged and spongy joints, large abdomen, and short stat- 
ure. Children of feeble parents, or of those exceedingly 
young, are most liable to rickets. The disease may begin 
any time between the age of six months and two years, the 
first noticeable symptom being a profuse perspiration about 
the head, face, and neck. Usually, there is restlessness 
during sleep, and kicking off the bed covers. Disorder of 
the stomach is an early sign; also when the teeth do not 
develop. Emaciation commences, while the abdomen grows 
prominent. The closure of the fontanelles in the head is 
arrested, and sometimes hydrocephalus (water on the brain) 
occurs. 

The very first symptoms of this disease should be rec- 
ognized, that treatment may be begun to build up the sys- 
tem. The sanitary condition of the home should be exam- 
ined, and the purity of the water supply inquired into. 
Plenty of sunlight and a continuous supply of fresh air 
in both sleeping and living rooms, is imperative. The food 
given should be as nutritious as possible. Infants from 
six months of age and up may have cream, animal broths, 



364 FEMINOLOGY. 

and egg, though not too much to be digested. Oatmeal, 
well cooked and strained, may be mixed with limewater, 
and fed. It is an excellent bone-forming food. Malted 
milk is also highly recommended. 

If the disease has gained much headway, so that the 
legs and spine are already weakened, the child should not 
be allowed to overtax what strength he has. As often as 
the weather permits, he should be taken into the sunshine 
and fresh air; but dampness must be avoided. 

When malformation occurs from rickets, surgical means 
must be resorted to ; many of the most striking deformities 
have been rectified. 

Scrofula is a taint usually inherited from consumptive 
or syphilitic parents ; or, the predisposition may Come from 
young or feeble parents; it may also be developed by resi- 
dence in unsanitary conditions, as from impure water, bad 
drainage, damp soil, insufficient diet, and want of sunshine. 
The disease manifests itself most conspicuously in chronic 
enlargement of the lymphatic glands, which are distributed 
all over the body. In the neck, armpits, and groins, they 
are most numerous, being, in the normal state, undetectable 
by sight or touch. Any very slight cause will excite enlarge- 
ment, and, in the scrofulous child, it does not subside. 
Among the most common exciting causes are, eczema of 
the scalp, enlargement of the tonsils, inflammation of the 
external passage of the ear, gumboil, etc. Scrofulous 
glands, after becoming enlarged, remain so for many 
months, sometimes years. However, as the result of some 
fresh irritation, or exposure to cold, or direct injury, they 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 365 

are liable to take 011 acute inflammation, and develop into 
abscesses. Children of scrofulous diathesis are more deli- 
cate than others, and more susceptible to attacks of disease 
in all its aspects. 

The treatment of scrofula is one of long duration. 
Strict observance of the laws of health is necessary to 
affect a cure. Abundance of fresh air, a dry atmosphere 
in sleeping and living rooms, plenty of sunlight, and abso- 
lute cleanliness, must be the rule of living. Vapor baths 
will assist away the poison in the body, through the action 
of the skin. 

The patient should be as much as possible in the open 
air, and partake of a diet of farinaceous foods, with plenty 
of milk, cream, and butter. Change of climate is of much 
value, especially if the home is in a low, damp, inland loca- 
tion. Either the seashore or mountains would be beneficial. 

The following may be taken with great benefit : — 

IJ Fl. Ex. Arctium Lappa 3 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Juniper 1 dram. 

Fl. Ex. Berberis Aqui 1 dram. 

Simple Sirup, q.s. ad 5 ounces. 

Dose: Teaspoonful four times daily. 

Rheumatism is a painful general disease, affecting the 
joints and muscles, and often the internal organs. The 
first symptom is a sharp, shooting pain in some particular 
joint or muscle, accompanied by soreness and swelling. 
The predisposition often comes through heredity, excited 
immediately by exposure to cold and damp. Extreme 
fatigue, coupled with such exposure, may bring on an 



366 FEMINOLOGY. 

attack; each attack makes a following one more probable, 
and in time, the malady is chronic. 

As it occurs in children, rheumatism is met with in the 
forms of acute rheumatic fever, subacute rheumatism, and 
muscular rheumatism. The acute fever is so severe as to 
demand medical attendance at once; both this form and 
subacute rheumatism are liable to be complicated with val- 
vular disease of the heart, but not so with rheumatism of 
the muscles. 

The home treatment should consist in applying the cold 
pack to the afflicted parts, and covering with a dry flannel; 
the child should be given all the water he will drink, say, 
a glassful every fifteen minutes, while awake. Water 
cleanses the bowels and kidneys of effete matter. The 
hot-air baths are also invaluable. Stimulating liniment 
may be rubbed over the afflicted parts after a vapor bath, 
in lieu of the pack. A good reaction on the surface should 
also be induced by gentle but thorough rubbing. 

Complaints of pain in the limbs should be regarded, 
for children rarely notice a hurt, unless it is constant or 
recurring. To relieve this condition, immerse the limbs 
in hot water, into which throw a handful of sulphur. 

9. Parasitic Diseases. — The most common of these 
unpleasant disorders are itch, ringworm, and intestinal 
worms. 

Itch is caused by a minute insect, known as the itch 
mite j burrowing under the skin. It is always acquired 
by direct contact. The first symptom is the intense itching 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 367 

that annoys the child after going to bed; no relief being 
obtained until the blood exudes. The mite burrows pref- 
erably where the skin is thin; as, in the angles between 
the fingers (see plate), on the front of the wrists, fore- 
arm, and elbow, and often, the feet, buttocks, and genitals. 

Applications of sulphur mixed in vaseline will kill the 
parasite. Treatment should be as follows: the patient 
should be given a warm bath at night before retiring, and 
the afflicted parts anointed with the sulphur ointment. The 
undergarments worn during the day may be resumed as 
night clothes; in the morning, there should be another 
warm bath, and clean clothing put on next the flesh. This 
treatment, repeated three or four times, entirely conquers 
the disease. To prevent its recurrence, the clothing worn 
during the progress of the trouble should be washed and 
boiled; clothing that cannot be subjected to that process 
of disinfection may be ironed thoroughly with a hot iron, 
to destroy any possible parasite that may linger in the folds. 

Ringworm of the scalp is due to a vegetable parasite, 
whose growth is in ring-shaped patches covered with vesi- 
cles; the healing begins in the center, where the growth 
began. It is contagious, spreading with great facility from 
one child to another. The duration of the disease is indefi- 
nite, if the parasite is not destroyed. It may appear on 
the scalp, arms, or hands, and the upper part of the body, 
but most commonly on the scalp. (See plate.) 

The first indication is the appearance of one or more 
red spots on the scalp; these spread until they often meet 
and form a solid mass of infection. As the nutrition in 



368 FEMINOLOGY. 

the hair bulbs is exhausted, the parasitic growth extends 
to the more healthy hairs. The hairs soon fall out, or 
leave short, broken-off stumps. 

The rapidity of a cure is determined by the skill and 
thoroughness in treating, and may last from one to six 
months. Hygienic conditions are needed at the outset to 
encourage the best bodily vigor. The afflicted spot, if on 
the scalp, should be cleared of hairs by shaving or pulling 
them out, and washed several times daily with borax and 
water. Sulphur, which will destroy fungus growth in man 
or beast, should then be applied to the part, either in dry 
form, or rubbed in vaseline. A sulphuric acid solution is 
also recommended. A cap of silk or linen, worn day and 
night, will prevent dissemination of this disorder of the 
scalp. 

Crusted or honeycomb ringworn — favus — scald head, 
is a parasitic disease, usually attacking the scalp. A slight 
itching is first noticeable, followed by pin-point eruptions, 
which in ten to twelve hours are crowned with a yellow 
point. (See plate.) These points exude a fluid, and then 
form a scab, with a depression in the center. At an ad- 
vanced stage of the disease, fluid is secreted in such quan- 
tity, as to form a crust over the whole head. 

Treatment : In the early stages, a cure may be quickly 
effected, by daily applications of the spirits of turpentine. 

The bowels must be kept freely active, the hair shaved 
close to the head, scabs removed by an application of the 
peroxide of hydrogen, and tar ointment rubbed into the 
scalp. A teaspoonful of the following mixture, should be 
administered four times daily: — 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 369 

I£ Trifolium Compound 3 drams. 

Berberis Aqui 2 drams. 

Simple Sirup, q.s. ad 4 ounces. 

Bald spots — Tinea decalvans — Alopecia, in rare in- 
stances, is a congenital (existing from birth) condition 
in which the growth of hair is scant or entirely wanting 
in patches. (See plate.) 

Premature alopecia may follow systemic diseases, as 
fevers or syphilis. 

Alopecia is usually limited to the scalp, but may attack 
other hairy regions, as eyebrows, eyelashes, beard. One 
or two bald spots may appear in a few hours, or the hair 
may gradually fall for several days or weeks. Very fine 
new hair may appear, and, in turn, drop out. The cause 
of the disease is involved in obscurity, some claiming it is 
of parasitic origin, and others, that it is due to a condition 
of the nerves. It is most common between the ages of eight 
and forty. 

Treatment should be constitutional and local. 

IJ Apium Graveolens, fl. ex 3 drams. 

Avena Sativa, fl. ex 2 drams. 

Lycopus, fl. ex 2 drams. 

Simple Sirup, q.s. ad 5 ounces. 

Dose : Teaspoonful four times daily. 

Locally, apply, — 

3$ Tinct. Cantharides 4 drams. 

Tinct. Capsicum 1 ounce. 

Castor Oil 20 drops. 

Alcohol, to make 4 ounces. 

Rub in thoroughly every second or third day. 
24 



370 FEMIN0L0GY. 

Intestinal worms are of various kinds, the most fre- 
quently observed being the round worms, and thread or 
pin worms. They cause untold annoyance and distress, 
and, by interfering with the process of nutrition, serious 
damage is done to health. 

The round worm resembles the common earthworm, 
although of paler color ; its length varying from five to ten 
inches — occasionally longer. It is supposed to feed on 
the chyle, and live in the small intestine; although it some- 
times makes its way into other parts, as into the stomach. 
An occurrence, not uncommon, is the appearance of the 
round worm crawling out of the child's mouth. 

In his complete and estimable book, " A Physician in 
the House," Dr. Greer states that " a female intestinal 
worm is capable of discharging sixty millions of eggs; and 
these eggs retain their vitality under most adverse circum- 
stances. They are discharged with the feces from the 
bowels, and find their way into streams and shallow wells, 
and with the drinking water are introduced into the human 
body, to be hatched. 

" Seldom more than two such worms are found in the 
intestines at one time; although they may be very numer- 
ous, and even amount to an obstruction." 

The symptoms of the presence of these worms are, rest- 
less sleep, foul breath, frequent picking and rubbing the 
nose, dark circles under the eyes, enlarged abdomen, soft 
and flabby muscles. The appetite is variable, hunger being 
absent at times, and, again, voracious. But their presence 
can only be known by seeing them in the stools. 



ERUPTIVE FEVERS. 

The appearance of the Rash 



Plate VI 




Measles. 



p.356. 



Scarlatina or Scarlet Fever. p.357. 




Vesicle of Vaccination on 9- or 10^ cU^mth slight 
Rose Rash around it. p.362. 




Typhus in early stage, 7 -day- ordinary case 



p.363. 




TvnKlT* in aAirxyynoA <x+»rto Uth J„, C_^4.*„J TJ U. 



"Rr^V^Aj J=r„+ •„ — n, ,-*.„;,- f? a 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 371 

When suspicion exists as to the presence of round 
worms, santonine, to be administered in half-grain doses 
before meals, is recommended. This treatment, after three 
days, should be discontinued, and a dose of castor oil given, 
which, with a copious enema of weak salt water, will cleanse 
the bowels from worms. If the symptoms continue after 
three days, repeat the treatment for three more days, using 
the cleansing enema and castor oil on the fourth day. 
Santonine causes the urine to be highly colored. 

Pin worms infest the rectum, often by the thousands, 
and produce intense itching just within the anus; espe- 
cially are they annoying at night, when they are apt to 
make their way outside the bowel. When present in the 
motions, these worms are easily recognized, resembling as 
they do, short bits of white thread, varying from one quar- 
ter of an inch to an inch in length, and having the power 
of movement. 

The best means of ridding the system of pin worms, 
is to use frequent enemas of cool, soft water, in which salt 
has been dissolved. Where much irritation exists, raw 
linseed oil may be injected. Santonine is effective in 
destroying them. The parts should be kept well cleansed, 
using soft water and carbolic soap. 

10. Urinary Disorders. — Incontinence of urine, enu- 
resis, or bed-wetting, is a common disorder of childhood, 
that requires patience in treatment. It is due to a general 
nervous condition of the system, and especially afflicting 
the sphincter muscle of the bladder. On falling asleep, 



372 FEMINOLOGY. 

there is muscular relaxation, and the presence of urine in 
the bladder does not rouse the nervous sensibilities enough 
to waken the child. This condition is usually present in 
infants, because the parts have not become sufficiently 
strengthened. If the child is trained to periodical evacua- 
tions of the bladder, the incontinence is nearly always over- 
come. It is when it continues for several years, that it 
becomes a source of anxiety to parents, not only because 
the malady exists, but because the drenched sheets cause 
colds and other complications. 

The child should be accustomed to evacuation before 
retiring, and be aroused once or twice during the night in 
order to ease himself. It is tedious to parents, but as a 
rule, prevents taking cold and soiling the bed. 

If due to worms, as is frequently the case, treat as for 
intestinal worms. 

Pains should be taken to create a healthy action of the 
skin by bathing and rubbing. The child should not be per- 
mitted to drink much at night, and milk should not be taken 
at the evening meal. An application of equal parts of 
ammonia and alcohol to the spine with hand friction is 
recommended; a stimulating plaster over the region of the 
kidneys is also said to be helpful in overcoming the annoy- 
ing ailment. 

As to diet, an overabundance of sweet and starchy foods 
will cause or increase the disorder, as will the use of tea 
and coffee; and mothers must see that their afflicted little 
ones have the proper food supply needed by the system. 

Circumcision is frequently resorted to as a cure in 
males. 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 373 

Retention of urine is not so frequent a disorder in chil- 
dren as the last named, but is more dangerous. When 
prolonged, the constituents of the urine are reabsorbed 
into the system, and uremia is the result. 

The retention may be caused by acute disease, as scarlet 
fever, diphtheria, etc. ; or colds, or injuries. 

The treatment must consist in getting the patient warm 
and the muscular system relaxed. The child should be 
placed in a warm bath, immersed above the hips, and the 
heat increased, as can be borne. When taken out, he should 
be wrapped in blankets, and given an infusion of buchu 
leaves. If the retention is not overcome by this treatment, 
summon the family doctor. 

Neglect in caring for childish ailments cannot be 
charged against mothers as often as can coddling. To let 
a child know there is constant, unrelenting concern as to 
the state of his health, has the effect of making him men- 
tally limp. A care-free life will develop resisting power 
to disease, while constant anxiety will open the gateway. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE SON. 

To guard and protect the magnificent potentialities of 
manhood, all mothers of boys should themselves understand 
wherein those possibilities lie. There are many who would 
give of their hearts' best blood could it save the boy to 
an honorable manhood, who fail in attaining the precious 
object because of the darkness in themselves as to the 
fountain of life. 

The mistake exists in the belief that sex is restricted 
to the reproductive organs; that one is masculine because 
of the testicles and penis; and the other feminine, because 
the procreative organs are within the body and comple- 
mentary to those of the male. 

Boys and girls born of the same parents, eating the same 
food, breathing the same air, develop male and female, 
according to the soul principle existing in each. Sex is 
of the soul, and the physical form but the outward expres- 
sion. It is a principle which appropriates from the sur- 
roundings what is needed to make male and female, as the 
unchangeable laws of creation decree. Each principle is 
needed equally to augment the usefulness and happiness 
of life. The sole object in the life of girls is not to mother 
the world any more than for boys to father the world. 
The same faculties of soul exist with the distinction of 
374 



THE SON. 



375 



sex. Boys and girls study the same lessons, and learn 
equally well; they also require equal amounts of duty and 
recreation; and the same code of morals applies with equal 
force. 

When there have been points of differentiation in the 
past, it has been on the side of laxity as to the duty and 
morals of boys, and to very limited recreation for girls. 
So an unbalanced state has largely existed, which must be 
corrected before the true life can be lived. 

With boys, the exuberant spirit of unfolding manhood 
was supposed to express itself in " sowing wild oats ; " 
that this hazy and questionable season was necessary before 
the steady, thorough-going man could be evolved. But 
retrospection shows the harvest of the crop to be lewd- 
minded, dishonest, and ill-favored men, in proportion to 
the extent of the " crop." Many are so saturated with 
vileness as to be permanently benighted ; while others have 
preserved enough manhood to see the error of their 
ways, and strive to save younger men from the same pit- 
falls. It must be said that men, in the clean, true sense 
of the word, are rather the exception than the rule. 

" 'Tis true, 'tis pity; and pity 'tis, 'tis true." 

In the public-school system of the United States, chil- 
dren are instructed in a large proportion of knowledge, 
needed and useful to perfect development. But it belongs 
entirely to the province of home and parents to provide 
information as to the laws of being, so vitally interwoven 
with the character of every individual. 

The time for beginning such instruction is when the 



376 FEMINOLOGY. 

little one, in his quest for knowledge, asks for information. 
One of the first things necessary for those who have the 
child's best welfare at heart is to disconnect from the subject 
of sex all thought of shame. Children are sensitive, and 
will feel that the subject is not a pure one if such is the 
thought of the parental instructor. 

In the preface of " True Manhood," a splendid book 
for boys, the author says, — 

" Conquer your prudery. Remember it is all in your 
own mind, and not at all in his. Yours came from wrong 
education. Realize the truth, and show in all your talk 
with your child your belief that there is nothing in God's 
zvorks of which to be ashamed. Your boy will listen with 
wide-open eyes, with no tell-tale blush or hanging of the 
head, if he is as yet untainted with false shame. 

" It should be made clear to him that there are certain 
times and occasions when these topics should be avoided. 
Examples are obvious, which could be used in illustration; 
as the use of injections in sickness, or the cleaning of 
fingernails, etc., which are proper, when necessary, in pri- 
vate or in the presence of parents, but to which the atten- 
tion of strangers should not be attracted. He may be 
taught the beauty of modesty in better ways than the old- 
fashioned one of crying shame upon innocent queries." 

All questions answered candidly and without hesita- 
tion will not beget morbid curiosity on any given line. 
Questions upon which the parents are not informed should 
be heard respectfully, and the budding inquirer told that 
they will, if possible, inform themselves. It might be pos- 



THE SON. 377 

sible to lay undue stress upon the subject of gestation, 
birth, and generation; and parents may see to it that rela- 
tive proportion is preserved. 

If the first queries are truthfully answered, it need never 
be feared that parents will have to begin the subject of sex 
instruction. Inquiries from the searcher for truth will 
open the way. 

The science of the human body is an intricate study, 
but can be simplified and made fascinating in nursery talks. 
When told in easy installments, the child-mind grasps the 
subject, and in his way understands and reverences it. The 
man wonderful in the house beautiful will be often in 
thought, and nothing done to mar the structure in which 
he lives. 

Among the early truths made known by reverent 
parents, is that all things were created by a first Great 
Cause, usually known as God; that plants, trees, insects, 
birds, animals, and mankind have origin in God. As he 
grows and casts about observing eyes, he sees families of 
fowls, animals, and humans increased in a way apparently 
mysterious. Then he desires to know more explicitly 
whence they come. It is easy to show that baby birds and 
baby chicks have grown inside of an egg which grew inside 
the mother's body. It should be no less difficult to say 
that baby kittens, puppies, calves, or colts grew within 
their mothers' bodies. 

The case of a small boy is well worth noting, who 
remarked frequently as to the increased size of the house 
cat. Said his wise and loving mother, " There are baby 



378 FEMINOLOGY. 

kittens growing inside her body, John. If you care for 
her nicely, by and by there will be some pretty kittens for 
you to play with." John was interested, and some days 
after, asked, " Mamma, did I grow inside your body ? Do 
all babies grow inside their mothers' bodies ? " Mamma 
answered that they did. " That's why you love us so, 
isn't it?" added the boy, with a new and beautiful truth 
added to his storehouse of knowledge. 

In contrast, is the attitude of another mother whose 
boy was reading the story of the conception of Christ, in 
the New Testament. He read, " And the babe within her 
womb leapt for joy;" and inquired, "Mamma, did I leap 
in your womb?" Instead of replying in an answering 
spirit of reverence, she said, " Hush, child ! Don't ever 
let me hear you ask such a question as that again." How 
could that mother consider the book from which the boy 
read, good and pure, and the question impure? There can 
be no reply except she had not gotten from under the 
cloud of superstition and irreverence of sex, herself. By 
repressing the child at that moment, a gulf came between 
them. He was never again as much her boy as before. 
He set out to find out for himself, and no thanks to the 
mother if he kept away from the muck-heap of sensuality 
in later life. 

If truth as to the origin of life has been lovingly taught 
from the first, before puberty is reached the mind is well 
fortified to understand the change that then takes place. 
And when the mysterious power begins to manifest itself 
within the boy's own pure body, he will know it is to be 



THE SON. 379 

guarded as the generator and preserver of the finest essence 
of life. 

It is probably too well known to be here reiterated, 
that habits of industry form the groundwork of good 
character. In connection with the development of sexual 
strength, it is almost inseparable. A dawdling, idle boy 
will hardly develop into a clean-hearted, energetic man. 
And so he must learn to be useful, and to exert the power 
of unfolding manhood in ways that lead to success. 

Slipshod habits cause the mind to be of the same nature, 
and as such, will not be able to comprehend the true use 
of the powers of sex. In practical life, the genius for hard 
work is the only successful genius, and that, too, along 
given lines, toward a defined ambition. A miner will not 
find what he seeks among the sands of the seashore, no 
matter how persistently he delves, nor a physician his 
learning in books of law. The most vigorous polishing 
will not convert a pebble into a diamond. The efforts 
expended must be in the direction known to reach the end 
sought. However, the decision is usually left until the 
general groundwork is prepared by the study and discipline 
of a dozen or more years after entering school. 

But whatever business or profession is anticipated, a 
boy pictures himself to be a man with all the best attributes 
of that worthy estate, to be which, the powers of sex must 
be conserved. He has no wish to be a thin, ailing, narrow- 
chested, stoop-shouldered specimen. " The sexual system 
holds the balance of power, and by its elevation or degra- 
dation, a young man is made or undone." 



380 FEMINOLOGY. 

So to every boy desirous of making the most of every 
power it is essential he should know himself. 

It is always best, to be sure, that parents themselves 
talk confidentially with their boys regarding physical wel- 
fare. But often, as the result of mistaken education, they 
cannot overcome false delicacy, even when realizing the 
need of enlightening their offspring. There are popular 
well- written physiologies, which will assist; as, "True 
Manhood," " Science in Story," " The Man Wonderful in 
the House Beautiful," " Talks on Nature," etc. 

Previous to the change of puberty, no life germs have 
been developed in the organism of a boy. When this devel- 
opment comes naturally, without exciting causes, it indi- 
cates a sound formation. Bodily and mental changes gradu- 
ally take place; the shoulders broaden, the chest expands, 
and the larynx — the voice box — partakes of the alteration. 
The " change of voice " in boys has been regarded as the 
most noticeable physical manifestation; as is the appear- 
ance of the menses in girls. The childish treble changes 
to. the deeper chest tones of manhood, the time required 
varying in different individuals. 

The mind acts with new vim and brightness because 
of the augmented strength received from unfolding virility. 
The boy enjoys living for its own sake. The world looks 
better and more hopeful for the view obtainable through 
an intellect more keenly alive. 

These changes are due to the unfolding powers of sex, 
which, in the boy, takes the form of secreting semen. As 
Roubaud says, " At puberty, life is in excess ; the blood 



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THE SON. 381 

boils, the desires are impetuous and tormenting. Nature 
is almost an accomplice. Yet man is, or ought to be, a 
reasoning being, and thus capable of subduing his passions, 
and directing his feelings in the direction of moderation 
and chastity." 

" It is very well known to medical men that the healthy 
secretion of semen has a direct effect upon the whole phys- 
ical and mental conformation of man," says Acton. " A 
series of phenomena attend the natural action of the testi- 
cles, influencing the whole system; helping, in fact, in no 
small degree, to form the character itself. A function so 
important, which to a great extent determines, according as 
it is dealt with, the happiness or misery of a life, is surely 
one of the last, if not the very last, that should be abused. 

" But what, too often, are the facts ? The youth, find- 
ing himself in possession of these sexual feelings and 
powers, utterly ignorant of their importance or even their 
nature, except from the ribald conversation of his worst 
companions, and knowing absolutely nothing of the conse- 
quences of giving way to them, fancies — as he, with many 
compunctions, begins a career of depravity — that he is 
obeying nature's dictates." 

" Such indulgence, indeed, is not natural, for man is 
not a mere animal; and the nobler parts of his nature cry 
out against the violation of their sanctity. Nay, more; 
such indulgence is fatal. It may be repented of; some of 
its consequences may be more or less recovered from; but 
from Solomon's time to ours, it is true that it leads to 
the ' house of death.' 



382 FEMINOLOGY. 

''The boy, however, does not know all this. He has 
to learn that to his immature frame every sexual indul- 
gence is unmitigated evil. It does not occur to his inex- 
perienced mind and heart that every illicit pleasure is a 
degradation to be bitterly regretted thereafter — a link in 
a chain that does not need many more to be too strong to 
break." 

There are many shades of opinion between continence 
and unchastity, regarding the habits of youth; many that 
are thoroughly conscientious. But all research and obser- 
vation point to continence — the voluntary conservation 
of sexual power, as the law of life affording the best, most 
elevating and far-reaching results. 

The boy properly educated and instructed on the uses 
of vital powers, on arriving at the period of adolescence 
will experience no disturbing influence from continence; 
unless, unfortunately it be, he is a child conceived and ges- 
tated through lust. 

Quoting Acton again, " By the time he arrives at the 
age of fourteen or sixteen, he possesses a frame approaching 
its full vigor. His conscience is unburdened, his intellect 
clear, his address frank and candid, his memory good, his 
spirits are buoyant, his complexion is bright. Every func- 
tion of the body is well performed, and no fatigue is felt 
after moderate exertion. The youth evinces that elasticity 
of body and that happy control of himself and his feelings, 
which are indicative of the robust health and the absence 
of care which should accompany youth. His whole time 
is given up to his studies and his amusements, and as he 



THE SON. 383 

feels his stature increase, and his intellect enlarge, he gladly 
prepares for his coming struggle with the world. 

" If, then, the above are the advantages of continence, 
let us glance at the reverse of the picture, and notice the 
symptoms when a boy has been incontinent, especially in 
that most vicious of all ways, masturbation. The frame 
is stunted and weak, the muscles undeveloped, the eye is 
sunken and heavy, the complexion is sallow, pasty, or cov- 
ered with spots of acne, the hands are cold and damp, and 
the skin moist. The boy shuns the society of others, creeps 
about alone, joins with repugnance in the amusement of 
his schoolfellows. He cannot look any one in the face, 
and becomes careless in dress and uncleanly in person. 
His intellect becomes sluggish and enfeebled, and if his 
evil habits are persisted in, he may end in becoming a 
driveling idiot, or a peevish valetudinarian. Such boys 
are to be seen in all stages of degeneration; but what is 
described is but the result to which they all are tending. 

" The cause of the difference between these cases is 
very simple. The continent boy has not expended that 
vital fluid, semen; nor exhausted his nervous energy. On 
the contrary, his vigor has been employed for its legiti- 
mate purpose, in building up his frame. On the other hand, 
the wear and tear of the nervous system, arising from the 
incessant excitement of sexual thoughts, the constant strain 
on the nervous system, and the large expenditure of semen, 
has exhausted the vital force of the incontinent, and reduced 
the immature frame to a pitiable wreck." 

The active, virile principle in man is semen. In the 



384 FEMINOLOGY. 

continent man, the secretion takes place slowly, and in the 
vas deferens is reabsorbed into the system. But when 
thoughts are allowed to dwell on sexual subjects, the secre- 
tion is carried to the seminal vesicles to await the excite- 
ment which carries it from the body. 

Or, if the semen remains in the seminal vesicles at the 
base of the bladder, the lymphatics absorb a limited amount ; 
but if incontinent thoughts continue, and the seminal tubes 
pour their precious fluid into the receptacles, what is not 
absorbed at once after a time putrefies. And in this state 
it is carried to the excretory system to be expelled, if pos- 
sible. Thus it is to be seen in the form of pimples on the 
face; or the lungs or kidneys are overtaxed. 

The duty of parents is obvious. Not only are hygienic 
measures to be more strictly observed, but the " windows 
of the soul opened heavenward," that the will may be 
strengthened to dominate the body. He should be encour- 
aged to spend a few hours each week visiting or in study 
with some pure girl ; the intermingling of male and female 
magnetic elements is stimulating to both, and is a safe- 
guard against morbid impurity of thought. 

The vivifying element in the semen is the spermatozoa 
— the transmuter of life — the generator of creative force. 

An artery brings pure blood from the heart to the 
testicles, from which is evolved these infinitesimal life 
germs. When reabsorbed into the circulation, the result 
is the superb strength and vigor which characterizes the 
perfect man. 

" Semen, after it has been secreted by the testes, must 



THE SON. 385 

be taken up again, and carried into the general circulation, 
there to produce effects en the system that are only noticed 
in men and animals who enjoy virility. It is not certain 
elements remaining in the blood, and not eliminated from 
it, which produces manly vigor or ' virility : ' if so, castra- 
tion would produce instead of prevent its development/' 
Acton asserts. 

In order to control the sex passion, it is necessary to 
conform to the simple laws of hygiene. Stimulating food 
and drink, and the use of tobacco are much to be decried. 
Sexual desire is created thereby — but this does not mean 
increased virility. In fact, the artificial desire is a robber 
of real strength. The growing youth must learn that fine 
distinction between passion, " the sign of creative power," 
and the desire generated by improper regimen. In the 
first instance, the spermatozoa are well matured and ready 
to perform their true function of regenerating and quick- 
ening the individual powers; in the second, the power 
is purely fictitious. The mind may, or rather must, be 
diverted from sexual subjects; in the first case, the powers 
will be practically inexhaustible ; in the second, the fictitious 
strength soon fades and leaves depression. 

More is needed than abstinence from exciting causes. 
That is, the mind must be filled with study and plans for 
wholesome exercise and recreation; the thoughts held to 
the track of conscientious duty to soul and body. 

Shakespeare has Iago say, " Our bodies are our gar- 
dens, to the which our zvills are gardeners. So that if 
we plant nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop, and weed up 
25 



386 FEMINOLOGY. 

thyme; either to have it sterile with idleness, or manured 
with industry, why, the power and corrigible authority of 
this lies in our wills." We should also have the scale of 
reason to balance the scale of sensuality. 

" Nothing," says Carpenter, " tends so much to increase 
the desire as the continual direction of the mind toward 
the object of its gratification, especially under the favoring 
influence of sedentary habits. Whilst nothing so effec- 
tually represses it as the determinate exercise of the mental 
faculties upon other objects, and the expenditure of nervous 
energy in other channels." 

Dr. Dio Lewis's plan for supplanting sensual thought 
is so good that few writers try to do better than quote it. 
It is as follows : — 

" While striving to help young men into the habit of 
clean thinking, I have tried many expedients. With intel- 
ligent persons, what I call the ' card plan ' has often proved 
successful. That is, to write on a card a number of words, 
each suggesting a subject of interest or a familiar train of 
thought. When an impure notion obtrudes itself, the idea 
of danger with which it has been associated will arrest 
attention. The card is taken out, and a glance at it will 
help to shift the switch at once." 

One young man, who had profited by the plan, wrote 
to Dr. Lewis, " I cannot tell you how clean and manly I 
feel. I would not go back for a mine of gold. I believe 
that this expedient might help the worst victim of sexual 
filth into purity and manliness, if he would only try it with 
a good strong will." 



THE SON. 387 

Habitual thoughts of sex in its mere physical aspect 
are the source of the world's unchastity. Such impurity 
taints the individual throughout. Those who seek and 
obtain physical gratification are but a small percentage 
of all whose thoughts are worm-eaten by sensuousness 
and libidinous fancies. The only true safety is in keeping 
the thoughts pure. To learn that there is nothing in the 
sex nature to debase one, when the force is not misapplied. 
The more one truly knows this department of the human 
organism, the better can it be understood and reverenced. 

Regarding the physical sensibility of the sex organs, a 
study of special physiology shows them to be more liberally 
supplied with nerves and blood vessels, in proportion to 
their size, than any other part of the body. In the penis, 
the nerves are most abundant on the outer surface; in the 
glans, especially, are the nerves thickest and finest; so that 
this organ is very sensitive to impressions of pleasure or 
pain. In the scrotum, the nerves are in the deeper parts 
of the glands ; the seminal tubes being extremely susceptible 
to nervous influence. One pair of the thirty-two pairs of 
nerves is distributed through the generative system, so that 
it is in direct communication with the brain. This liberal 
supply of nerves plainly indicates that the sexual system 
is fully under control of the intellect. If the soul so wills 
it should be guarded for the protection of manhood's vigor, 
the parts respond. If the mental force is inclined to phys- 
ical gratification, thought, without outside sensation, is often 
enough to cause a loss of the vital fluid. 

In early childhood, the habit of handling the sex organs 



3 88 FEMINOLOGY. 

should be prohibited, as begetting sexual precocity. If it 
seems to be tenacious, exciting causes should be sought. 
Often irritability of the bladder, or the presence of worms 
in the rectum may induce the habit. 

If the prepuce (that part extending beyond the glans- 
penis) be long and narrow, so that the head is uncovered 
with difficulty, the surgeon can correct the trouble with 
a little skillful work. This malformation is a very frequent 
cause of evil practices. 

As a boy approaches puberty, he should be instructed 
to push back the foreskin, and cleanse the head of the glans 
in his daily bath. Some young men have supposed them- 
selves sufferers from sexual desire, when only sufferers 
from uncleanness; the accumulated secretions at the head 
of the glans and under the prepuce produce irritation, which 
calls an undue flow of blood to the parts; this, in turn, 
suggests desire, which the brain is not usually displeased 
to acknowledge. 

There is some fear expressed, lest such instruction teach 
a boy self-abuse. On the contrary, it overcomes super- 
sensitiveness of the penis; while the habit of making all 
parts of the body clean gives a wholesome self-respect. 
Irritation from decomposing secretions cannot fail to induce 
manipulations, which, in turn, excite desire. 

In treating the law of continence, Dr. Cowan men- 
tions the following aids : — 

i. Early rising; or, at least, getting up immediately 
after awakening. 

2. The daily hand bath, taken quickly, as soon as rising. 



THE SON. 3, ; 

3. Unstimulating diet. 

4. Clean, comfortable clothing. 

5. Useful employment. 

6. Recreation, to contrast with employment. That is, 
if the work is sedentary, the recreation should be physical, 
or vice versa. 

7. Avoid unventilated, unlighted bedrooms; feather 
beds, pillows, and heavy covering; and especially should 
evil companions be shunned, until the young man is sure 
and certain of his own moral foundation. Then his asso- 
ciation with those of lower moral strata may be for the 
purpose of showing them the beauty of a clean-souled life. 

8. Avoid alcohol and tobacco, in all forms. They are 
sure poison. When taken in great quantities, they cause 
immediate death, and in smaller quantities, are no less 
poisonous to the body. 

" So closely is the nature of licentiousness interwoven 
with that of alcoholic liquors, opium, and tobacco, that it 
is difficult to tell which depends upon the other for its 
stimulus. Be that as it may, a man or woman cannot 
possibly live a chaste life sexually or otherwise, who uses 
these soul-debasing articles. No other two habits so blot, 
stain, and deform the soul made in God's image, as do 
tobacco and alcohol, and it is useless for a man to try and 
live a healthy or continent life, who, in the remotest way, 
continues their use." 

Overeating is another giving away to the desires of 
the body, which prevents leading a pure life. In the first 
place, the will is weakened. Eating more than will satisfy 



390 FEMINOLOGY. 

hunger, because the taste is agreeable, is certainly a form 
of intemperance. In the second place, more fuel is sup- 
plied than the system requires, and the high pressure thereby 
induced is apt to manifest itself in the sensitive sexual 
system. 

Anything conducive to normal health is conducive to 
sexual health; and the will, being director-in-chief, when 
well trained, sees to it that no unwholesome act is allowed. 
Without intellectual acquiescence, however, there is no per- 
sonal benefit from continence; or, rather, if the continence 
does not exist because the youth knows it to be best for 
self-development, it becomes repressive and in secret reacts 
upon the generative system, causing emissions. 

When the powers of mind and body have attained full 
growth, the commencement of adult life is said to be begun. 
The sexual tendencies of the period of adolescence are 
mellowed and refined by the unfolding soul. The change 
is as real as the change at puberty. If life has been har- 
moniously developed by work and rest, recreation and social 
enjoyment, body and soul are fully charged with virility — 
the essence of clean manhood. 

According to the author of " Sexual Science," virility 
may be known by the form, voice, movement, eyes, com- 
plexion, and magnetic influence. The more perfect the 
form, the more musical the voice, the more energetic and 
graceful the movements, the more brilliant the eyes and 
complexion, the more splendidly developed and preserved 
is virility, or manly strength. The secret of power every- 
where is reserve. 




ROMEO AND JULIET. 



THE SON. 



391 



The general attitude of men toward the opposite sex 
declares their own purity, or lack of it. As Ruskin says, 
" Believe me, every virtue of the highest phase of manly 
character begins and ends in this — in truth and modesty 
before the face of all maidens; in truth and reverence, or 
truth and pity, to all womanhood." 

No matter to what depths a woman may have gone, 
nothing can excuse a man who would be manly, from treat- 
ing her with courtesy. He may be uncharitable enough to 
despise her life, but the memory of that which is best in 
a good woman should impel courtesy to one of the same sex. 

In the innermost nature of every young man whose 
soul and body has been allowed to mature, is implanted a 
desire for the love and companionship of some young 
woman, whose nature shall complement his own. While 
in his younger, more imperfect development, he might have 
thought marriage to mean an outlet or legal way of grati- 
fying sensuality, the strength of manhood enables him to 
comprehend more perfectly the true relation of the sexes. 
For the sake of that one who shall partake of the purest 
and deepest affections of his heart, he keeps himself pure 
in thought and in life. 

" When you are married," says sweet-souled Ellice 
Hopkins, " all that you have and all that you are, you 
will hold for the good of the woman you love. And there 
will be one less woman in our land to fill an early grave, 
or have her constitution broken down for life, by having 
her children faster than her strength can bear, or than her 
means can feed and clothe and educate." 



392 FEMINOLOGY. 

Contrast with this man, whose — 

" Strength is as the strength of ten, 
Because his heart is pure," 

those who believe in the degradation of sexual strength; 
who are too indolent and benighted to think one thought 
outside of old traditions and customs; who believe that 
ministration to the carnal appetite of man is the chief duty 
of woman, motherhood and all other considerations to be 
no barrier. To such, legal marriage may be, and is, a sooth- 
ing balm to the conscience. He has received license from 
the state to associate carnally with one woman ; while in the 
brothel it is not legal, and hence the elastic thing called 
conscience might have pangs of regret. In marriage, this 
spiritually undeveloped man brings of his earnings to the 
support of a common abiding place, and truly believes his 
wife is a nonproducer, even though she toil early and late 
in the never-ending routine known as housework. 

Of such men have largely come lawmakers, whose 
doings were ostensibly for the protection of homes, but 
really for the prevention of encroachment upon their sup- 
posed rights, by others of their sex. Prostitution they 
regard to be a necessary evil, as a sewerage to public morals. 
In the language of Rachel Campbell, " If the prostitute is 
just as necessary to the welfare of society as the wife, 
then her calling is just as honorable, and she is entitled 
to equal consideration. If she is forbidden the joy of 
motherhood that wives may possess their homes and chil- 
dren in safety; if her shame is the price of their honor; 
her crucifixion, their redemption, surely, instead of being 



THE SON. 393 

driven by cruel treatment to premature death, she should 
receive due protection during her time of useful service, 
and be kindly cared for in her old age. I would suggest 
a pension equal to that paid to wounded and disabled sol- 
diers." 

Such, indeed, would be consistency; but until mascu- 
line purity is more widely engendered, no wholesome sex 
regulation may be hoped for. With the dawn of general 
purity in the morals of men, and sound self-respect in 
women, prostitution will disappear of itself, because the 
relation of the sexes will become rational, as God intended. 

It is not the strong, well-balanced girl who becomes a 
prostitute. It is she who is credulous, vain, and not able 
to resist the circumstances of her life; or else she is too 
loving. Ellice Hopkins pictures the latter in this language : 
" Is it not the very strength and intensity of a woman's 
affection that sometimes gives a man his fatal power over 
her, even though morally she is the stronger? A woman, 
if she falls, often falls by what is highest in her — her 
longing to give herself to the man she loves, to fling herself 
at his feet, even if those feet trample her into the dust. The 
man falls, if he falls, by what is lowest in him — the long- 
ing for his own selfish gratification, the base willingness 
to accept at another's bitter cost, to run up a bill with the 
devil, knowing he can sneak out when pay time comes, 
and the woman can't. 

" Yet the world has agreed to lay all the blame and 
disgrace on the woman. The man wipes his mouth, and 
says, ' I have done no harm,' and is received into society. 



394 • FEMINOLOGY. 

The woman is pushed and jostled down those dread wind- 
ing stairs that lead to ever lower depths, till the last steps 
are bathed in the blood and tears of a lost soul; a lot so 
dreadful that the common pity of mankind has agreed to 
call the one on whom it falls l an unfortunate.' " 

Statistics show that more than one hundred thousand 
women are annually drawn into the whirlpool of prosti- 
tution. But statistics have not been gathered (perhaps 
because they cannot be) on the women annually sacrificed 
to lust within the legal bonds of wedlock. 

Oh, mothers of youth, upon you falls the duty of enkin- 
dling the fires of virtue in your growing boy and girl. 
It must be his to become so imbued with the spirit of truth 
and generosity, that he will conserve his powers of sex 
for the upbuilding of his nature and for the generation 
of such children as himself and chosen loved one shall 
desire when the proper time comes. 

It must be hers to become so imbued with the rever- 
ence due to the powers of sex that she will only allow its 
expression in the highest sense, when she finds the one 
man to whom her being responds in its entirety. If he 
has been pure according to her standard, and other bar- 
riers do not exist, they may form the alliance known to 
the clean-hearted as marriage. If his past has not been 
what she could respect, he should go into a kind of mental 
quarantine, to disassociate himself from such influences, 
before marriage could be possible. A celibate life in man 
or woman may not be the ideal one, but it is far, far beyond 
the marriage in which sexual debauchery is an ingredient. 



THE SON. 395 

The door of reform held invitingly open to the prodi- 
gal son, ought not, in all conscience, to be closed against 
the prodigal daughter. But a truer reaching out for ele- 
vation of morals is obtainable through inculcation of chas- 
tity in wedlock; to know that man's sex-gratification at 
the expense of his wife, or where both associate for the 
temporal gratification of a physical desire, is truly the foun- 
dation of the social evil. 

Another form of pollution is that in which the sexes 
do not associate with each other, but personally debase 
themselves by manual friction of the organs of sex, for 
sake of the pleasing sensation. This is known as mas- 
turbation, and said to be the very worst form of sex-degra- 
dation. It is begun in ignorance, oftentimes in childhood. 
The practice continued is far worse than if the boy were 
castrated; for in addition to the arrested development of 
one unsexed by surgery, enormous suffering is entailed, 
in one form or another, and the power of enjoying life 
in any true sense of the word is destroyed. 

The sin can be overcome, but the perfect development 
of the individual is more or less stunted. 

" The requirements necessary for the prevention of mas- 
turbation must, of course, commence before the genera- 
ting of the child, and continue through its antenatal life," 
says Cowan. 

" Next in importance, as a preventive, is the instructing 
and enlightenment of children in the true use of their sexual 
organism. In a frank, kind, loving way, parents should 
instruct the boys and girls as to the nature, objects, and 



396 FEMINOLOGY. 

requirements of this great power for good or evil. They 
should warn them against the danger from abusing it; 
and if, by accident, they should personally see or be asked 
to join in the practice, they should be instructed to refuse, 
and in future avoid such company." 

To conceal the world's misery and crime resulting from 
the abuse, or misdirection of sexual powers, from a boy 
or youth might, in an occasional instance, develop a clean, 
hardy man; but it is not a safe, general rule. It would 
be equally wise to send him, unarmed, on a journey through 
a jungle known to abound in animals and reptiles dan- 
gerous to life. He might escape unharmed, but the proba- 
bilities would be against it. 

Said an earnest, loving parent, in heart-reaching verse, 
which will find an echo everywhere, — 

" Don't send my boy where your girl can't go, 
And say, ' There's no danger for boys, you know, 
Because they have all their wild oats to sow.' 
There's no more excuse for my boy to be low 
Than your girl. Then please don't tell him so. 

" Don't send my boy where your girl can't go. 
For a boy or a girl, sin is sin, you know. 
And my boy's hands are as clean and white, 
And his heart as pure as your girl's to-night." 

Good instruction, good books, good companionship, 
which calls out intellectuality, other things being equal, will 
assist to a strong, pure manhood; which every mother 
desires for her boy, and every boy truly desires for himself. 



THE SON. 397 

It is a big question, pregnant with the regeneration 
of the world. How soon it may be attained, largely depends 
on the awakening of parents to the high uses of the powers 
inherent in sex, whose voice is love, in the complete sense 
of the term. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE DAUGHTER. 

The training of boys and girls is not of such distinctive 
character as to require consideration under separate heads; 
in fact, it is and should be very like. No more differences 
are needed than individuals of the same sex require. Be- 
cause the past has made the distinction, it is here deemed 
advisable to call attention to the human equality of the 
male and female halves of the tree of life. Girls should no 
more be trained for wifehood and motherhood than boys 
for the corresponding estate of fatherhood and husbandry, 
although that is an important phase of the majority of lives, 
and must not be neglected in the education which rounds out 
character. 

An educator treating this subject speaks as follows : " I 
would place myself on the side of those who, in science and 
art, would offer to woman all the opportunities that — until 
lately — were all but monopolized by man: for culture, by 
enriching the powers and expanding the views of woman 
as a human being, widens her scope, and increases her effici- 
ency as a mother. I would rather place myself on the side 
of those who ask of young men and young women equal 
attention to social amenities, and who consider husbandry 
as important to the young man as housewifery to the young 



398 



THE DAUGHTER. 



399. 



When the general status of civilization was lower in 
the scale than it now is, it was thought to be unfortunate 
when a daughter was born to the family; the son could 
take care of himself after a reasonable number of years, but 
the daughter was always " on hands ; " that is, a dependent 
upon parental support until some man relieved them by 
marrying the girl. This has been unfortunate for the race ; 
it has clogged the wheels of progress because of women 
seeing themselves in the light of dependents. It has led 
them to seek alliances with men who can best provide for 
that state of dependence regardless of whether there was a 
blending of characters or not. 

Many mothers of girls think it a more arduous task to 
rear them than their brothers — the chief reason being that 
a boy could " live down " any chance disgrace, and a girl 
could not; that the morals of a boy were not a thing for 
certain reckoning, while the market value of a girl would 
be destroyed if her morals were not at least outwardly good. 
Or, as our modern novelist puts it, it does not matter if a 
young woman lacks all other virtues, if she possess chastity 
the world gives her a card for good character, thus putting 
the virtues out of proportion. While chastity is a bright 
jewel, so also are other of the cardinal virtues, and their 
possession renders the lives of both boy and girl such as 
was intended by the Designer, none being more needful to 
perfect the character of one sex than the other. 

The earliest education of a child is in the hands of the 
family, and it is only in exceptional cases that either parent 
has considered the needs of childhood prior to the advent of 



4 oo FEMINOLOGY. 

their own firstborn. All there is to guide is the precedent 
furnished through memory of their own child days. If 
memory suggests it to be a correct method of training, the 
infant is at once put through its courses, irrespective of 
whether the new individual requires a like training. The 
chief family law handed down by tradition is to bend the 
will of the child to that of its parents by means of physical 
punishment, or the fear of it. Even tiny children are made 
to control their crying by blows from parents, who do not 
realize they are instilling cowardice and cruelty which will 
come out when those small tots grow large enough to dom- 
inate smaller ones. They are started on the road to vicious- 
ness by all manner of roughness on the part of caretakers. 

From infancy to several years beyond puberty is the 
formative period of life. We may progress thereafter until 
physical life shall cease, but the trend of character and the 
foundation of health is then decided. How important it is, 
then, that an idea of the duties of parents be learned before 
the time necessary for putting knowledge into execution. 
The first child is to be pitied for coming to inexperienced 
parents, though mother Nature usually makes up a measure 
of good to him, in that his coming is desired. But too often 
there is mental or bodily infirmity implanted by inefficiency 
of parents, though the brothers and sisters of later years 
will receive the benefit of experiments upon Number One. 

Until the age of puberty there is nothing different to be 
made known to the daughter than to the son. Each should 
be encouraged to activity of both physical and mental 
powers, which is the normal condition of young life. What 



THE DAUGHTER. 40 1 

is known as mischief is only misdirected activity. When 
employment is not furnished, the child finds something to 
do. It is as much a necessity to his being as to eat or drink 
or to be well-appareled, and the parent is as responsible 
for one as for the other. Activity cannot be repressed; 
when not allowed a wholesome expression, the stored-up 
mettle will expend itself in avenues not desirable, often in 
ways dangerous to health and morals. 

To be sure there are certain forms of manner and expres- 
sion to be observed which make the world tolerable, and pre- 
vent the rights of others from being encroached upon ; but 
that is veneer, the common observances which give the pass- 
port of being well-bred. Prevailing form in manner or 
dress should never be allowed to undermine or interfere with 
the best good of a growing child. 

No one in a mother's place should allow the period of 
puberty and adolescence to arrive without previous prepara- 
tion of the child's mind as to the physical and mental 
changes about to take place. With the daughter, the func- 
tion of menstruation will be anticipated. The peculiar 
physiology of the female organism should be explained, and 
illustrated by pictures to be found in almost any private 
book for women. There are specially prepared books for 
children just entering puberty which, if possible, should be 
placed at hand. The mind is quickened on the subject, and 
no time is so good to forestall improper thought as when 
the child " wants to know." 

The naturally formed girl up to the dawn of puberty 
has shoulders, waist, and hips of equal width; then the 
26 



4 02 FEMIN0L0GY. 

organs of sex take a sudden start at growth, and the pelvis 
enlarges to accommodate; the breasts, being in sympathy 
with the reproductive system, also develop. The menses 
either accompany or soon follow these bodily changes, and 
indicate that ovulation has begun. 

The age of puberty in temperate climates varies between 
twelve and fifteen years, and marks the prelude of creative 
power. With the aid of a mother's loving instruction, a 
reverence may then be established for the inherent powers 
of sex. The female principle permeates the entire being of 
a well-begotten girl, and makes her bright and attractive, 
the more so as she learns how to guard her powers. She 
is female not only that she may assist in multiplying and 
replenishing the earth, but to be a thoroughly distinct and 
capable individual of her kind. 

Why have not the youth of both sexes been taught to 
know that higher selfhood which comes from understand- 
ing and controlling the powers of sex? The question can 
only be answered by allowing one's self to think of mis- 
mated marriages wherein the conjugal relation has been 
solely on the plane of the senses. Such relation being 
degrading, persons argue that the organs so used are fleshly, 
vile, and low. But instead of guarding the youth against 
such fate they are allowed blindly to enter the same estate, 
commit the same errors, and suffer the same penalties of 
disobedience of nature's laws. 

Those who would remove the stumbling-block of error 
are confronted with an age-long prejudice, to which they 
who think little cling with tenacity. 



THE DAUGHTER. 403 

A recent writer, treating on prejudice, says, " In the 
realm of physics or natural philosophy, we are taught that 
inertia is everywhere present, and that it always exerts its 
influence to keep things just where they are if at rest, and 
if in motion, to continue that motion in the same line indefi- 
nitely. Thus if these things are to be moved, or their 
motion or direction changed, this inertia must first be over- 
come, before the force applied can begin to work. 

" What inertia is and has always been to material things, 
compelling the moving of the mountain by shovelfuls, a 
bit at a time, such it seems has been prejudice in the lines of 
mental, moral, religious, or scientific achievements, caus- 
ing the waste of prodigious amounts of time, effort, blood, 
and treasure to accomplish things that, but for this supreme 
hindrance, the world would have seen, understood, and 
greatly enjoyed years and centuries ago." 

It is a monstrous prejudice that systematically withholds 
all knowledge of the functions of sex, leaving the youthful 
mind to struggle in darkness and doubt, or to follow, to his 
or her ruin, the inclinations of sensuality. 

" We are particular to educate our young in the higher 
mathematics, in the dead languages, in science and art," said 
a true mother, " but at the essentials of a divine selfhood 
which can come only from a knowledge of correct living, 
we draw the line. This last, most important thing of all is 
left to chance knowledge picked up anywhere." 

How many more shovelfuls of argument, or dynamite 
blasts of reason are needed before the inertia of this mighty 
mountain of prejudice is overcome? 



4 04 FEMIN0L0GY. 

According to the laws of God, and also the opinions of 
man, it is eminently proper to be distinctively masculine and 
feminine; no one is admired or much respected who lacks 
virility. Why it is deemed improper to understand the 
underlying principles of sex, no one who reasons can 
explain. 

The mental changes occurring at puberty are as decided 
as the physical changes, though not so easy to present to 
the child's understanding. The girl merging from child- 
hood into maidenhood is an object for tender regard and 
earnest solicitude. A turning-point in her life has been 
reached; and although she may cling fondly to the joys of 
childhood, she must, in accordance with the laws of muta- 
tion, pass beyond the point " where the brook and river 
meet." But, as Longfellow further says : — 

" Like the swell of some sweet tune, 
Morning rises into noon, 
May glides onward into June. 

" Childhood is the bough where slumbered 
Birds and blossoms many numbered ; 
Age, that bough with snow encumbered. 



: Bear through sorrow wrong and ruth 
In thy heart the dew of youth, 
On thy lips the smile of truth. 



" O, that dew, like balm, shall steal 
Into wounds that cannot heal 
Even as sleep our eyes doth seal. 



And that smile, like sunshine, dart 
Into many a sunless heart, 
For a smile of God thou art." 




MAY GLIDES ONWARD INTO ]\mE."—Zongfe//<m. 



THE DAUGHTER. 405 

Marked changes are to be noticed in the feeling with 
which the budding maiden regards her boy friend. Here- 
tofore she has romped and played with him as a com- 
rade; now she becomes conscious of a difference in regard. 
And because she does not understand it, she holds aloof from 
former playmates. This is the stage of youth when girls 
troop together, and form those tender intimacies for which 
girlhood is noted. They are self-conscious and timid in the 
presence of boys, sometimes affecting abrupt familiarity to 
cover the fact. The restless feeling of inharmony often 
makes them querulous; but as the weeks lengthen into 
months, the added powers of mind and body that come 
with sex development bring consciousness of new hopes and 
desires, and childish joys at last are gladly relinquished. 

Mothers often increase the restlessness by insisting that 
dolls and childish games be given up before the mind is 
prepared for the next stage. It is hastening the maturing 
process which only retards growth in the long run; the 
mind of the girl will retain a pang of regret that she was not 
allowed to be a child long enough. 

It requires more or less time for the transitory stage of 
shyness to wear away between the young of both sexes ; but 
when the heart is kept pure, the spirit of comradery for 
those of pleasing traits returns in a mellow, refined state. 
Even when the passion of love develops, the fellowship for 
the friends of youth is not dispelled. Suitable companion- 
ship is an essential for growing girls. One who is much 
alone cannot help growing queer; it takes association to 
round off abrupt corners of almost any character. 



4 o6 FEMINOLOGY. 

There is danger, when the tide of youth runs strong, 
that the immature, unprepared-for marriages will occur. 
It is natural that boys and girls should be fond of each 
other's society; it is the attraction of the eternal masculine 
and feminine in nature. They may study together, and 
together enjoy games of skill and athletic action with mutual 
benefit ; but it must be the duty of parents to forestall early 
marriages or other sexual imprudence. Keep the unfolding 
life so full of interest in study, exercise, and other whole- 
some employment as to exclude all morbid thoughts on the 
subject of the relation of the sexes. But do not exclude 
training of the mind on the subject itself, so that what 
thoughts the young mind may have thereon shall be thoughts 
of cleanness and reverence. As Professor Fowler said, 
teach them to be clean and pure sexually, and they will 
be clean and pure in all other ways. 

When puberty is reached it is of the utmost importance 
that a girl should understand the meaning of the voice of 
passion within her. If she were but animal it would mean 
a prompting to coition; a merely animal desire for associa- 
tion with another animal. But being a spiritual entity it 
means she now has creative power to make itself mani- 
fest in the flesh. The expression of creative power through- 
out life is most largely in feats of strength and skill, and 
only occasionally in bestowing life upon offspring. The 
best life is that in which the powers of life are used to 
express that which is best in thought and act, and never 
allows the sensual feelings of the body to dominate. 

Consequently when the voice of passion is distinctly 



THE DAUGHTER. 407 

noticed, the young should be taught to recognize in it a 
prompting to exertion, and should obey instantly, and do 
whatever is suggested to the mind in the way of mental or 
physical effort; then the sign passes away, and added 
strength and elasticity is experienced. This is health. 

On the other hand, if the prompting to activity is not 
obeyed, the passion will react on the senses, and the mind 
become filled with thoughts of sensual gratification; and 
both mind and body become enervated, because the force 
has been misapplied. 

Children are often the victims of inherited abnormal 
passion, and need all the assistance possible to be given, 
to curb it into the channel of health. With them the feeling 
of passion is stronger than the will to express it in exer- 
cise rather than self-gratification, and the withering, blight- 
ing habit of masturbation will quite likely be the result. 
Most mothers will recall what the prenatal conditions were, 
and any one who remembers ill conditions, should not hesi- 
tate to counsel with the unfolding reason, to assist her 
flesh and blood in summoning the forces of good to her aid. 

Letters from these unfortunates come to me frequently. 
One young girl, contemplating marriage, writes : " I caused 
my present trouble by secret habits. I have told you my 
troubles as plain as if I had seen you personally, and I 
have not been backward in telling them. I want relief. 
How long will it take to cure me, and will I ever dare 
get married, if cured?" 

Dr. Winslow, a pioneer for clean personal character, 
says, " Happy and twice blessed are those parents who 



408 FEMINOLOGY. 

possess sufficient strength of character to say to their chil- 
dren, ' Through ignorance of nature's laws or by foolish 
weakness, did I receive this physical injury; let me warn 
you of life's quicksands in this direction — in that did I 
blunt my intellectual perception. In this manner, did I 
acquire such and such imperfections, which have been trans- 
mitted to you; let me assist you in overcoming them, and 
implore you to avoid their continued transmission. The 
prenatal influences attending you were so inharmonious 
that such and such characteristics have been entailed upon 
you; let us together come to an intelligent understanding 
of their extent, and endeavor to overcome their evil influ- 
ences. My only reparation is in giving you an under- 
standing of their causes, hoping to enable you to resist 
them.' 

" In this way (never under the iron rule of command 
and obedience, deigning no explanation, no instruction) 
can parent and child work together as companion and 
friend." 

It has been an accepted idea in the past that for parents 
to communicate their own errors to their children would 
cause a lack of respect. But, instead, it establishes a nearer 
degree of companionship for a child to know human nature 
is not infallible, even in a parent. It is but just that a 
child, weighed down by inherited weakness, should know 
the cause, and have assistance in overcoming that which 
she had no voice in establishing. Of each girl's distinct 
characteristics, the mother should best know; and where 
a weakness exists, endeavor to fortify that point. 



THE DAUGHTER. 409 

The age of development of puberty varies according 
to the temperament, race, climate, or condition of life. Bru- 
nettes menstruate earlier than blondes, as a rule; in warm 
climates, puberty is reached earlier than in cold. Hindoo 
children are often married and bear offspring before 
American girls reach puberty. In Russia, menstruation 
is often delayed as late as twenty. 

Racial characteristics exert a modifying influence on 
the age at which puberty arrives. The Hebrew maid, in 
whatever climate, is developed earlier than the English, 
German, or American girl. Creole girls menstruate sooner 
than Yankee girls ; likewise, those of negro ancestry on one 
or both sides. 

The habits of life also influence this change. A regular, 
healthful mode of living enables girls to reach the period 
at a natural time, with no danger, nor even inconvenience, 
to life and health. Insufficient food and overwork deprives 
the system of vitality, and the menses come with ill health 
and suffering; while high living, which can hardly be 
equalized by any amount of exercise, tends to prematurity, 
and probably, secret bad habits. Simple, nourishing food 
is always best at this period, as at any other critical time. 
All dwarfing influences should be discovered and corrected, 
that the blossoming of the daughter shall not be blighted. 

Children of nervous temperament often form the habit 
of self-abuse before puberty is reached. The organs of 
sex are more abundantly supplied with nerves, proportion- 
ately, than any other organs of the body; any unnecessary 
handling excites irritability and weakness, by calling the 



41 o FEMINOLOGY. 

blood from other parts of the body to these special organs. 
The habit is often communicated from one child to another, 
neither knowing it to be injurious; and depraved older 
people have been known to defile the young. It is foolish 
for parents to try to enforce a confession of the habit, 
without previously having observed the possible effects 
of it. 

Of the symptoms, Lallemand says, " However young 
children may be, they become thin, pale, and irritable, and 
their features assume a haggard appearance. 

" When a child who has once shown signs of a good 
memory and of considerable intelligence, is found to evince 
greater difficulty in retaining or comprehending what is 
taught, we may be sure that it does not depend upon indis- 
position or idleness. Moreover, the progressive derange- 
ment in health, falling off in activity and in application, 
depend upon this same cause, only the intellectual function 
becomes enfeebled in the most marked manner. " 

Acton says, " Persons having the care of young chil- 
dren cannot too constantly bear in mind that the tendency 
of all irritation or excitement of the generative system, 
either mental or physical, is to induce even the youngest 
child to stimulate the awakened appetite, and attempt to 
gratify the immature sexual desire, which would other- 
wise have lain dormant for years to come. ,, 

When the habit is suspected, usually all that will be 
needed to overcome it is to point out to the child the true 
uses of sex, and the unhappiness caused by powers misused, 
amd by song and story, try to quicken the spiritual, the 



THE DAUGHTER. 411 

divine spark, that exists in all. When the mind is filled 
with ennobling* thoughts, no room remains for the base 
and degrading; it vanishes as shadows fade at the approach 
of light. The soul-molding influence of high ideals cannot 
be overestimated. Unwholesome environment and natural 
downward tendencies may be overcome entirely, through 
the influences of good. One of Bulwer's characters, a girl 
born in the gutter, is made to say, " When I know more, 
I can pray better." Character is modified in some direc- 
tion, by all impressions, thoughts, and actions; and the 
more good placed before the mental vision, the stronger 
the character becomes in tendencies toward the right. To 
the untutored, unsentimental mind, most of the beauties 
and truths of life remain a sealed book; and to such the 
organs of sex are possessed to bestow a certain sensual 
gratification. Any one suggesting the real uses of the foun- 
tain of life is looked upon as one having lost the power 
to enjoy the same. 

In the course of years of confidence between parent and 
child, the subject of marriage will naturally be brought 
up, and much wisdom is needed to touch it in just the 
right way. All girls should be impressed with the need 
of making themselves physically and mentally fit for the 
estate of wifehood and motherhood, because such fitness 
will enhance their abilities in any Held of usefulness; and 
then a clean ideal of manhood should be upheld before them. 
Two intelligent, wholesome people of opposite sex, lovingly 
united in marriage, may realize all that is best in life. But 
better, a thousand times, live celibate than marry one who 



412 FEMINOLOGY. 

does not furnish the needed complement in all respects. 
Teach them to maintain a high ideal until their own shall 
come, if this be through life. 

Of manhood, the German Professor Pryer once said, 
" Nearest to perfection comes the man whose excellencies 
most outweigh his faults. By excellencies I mean those 
qualities which make for his own prosperity, and that of 
his family, and society, and the state, and the whole human 
race." 

Habits that deteriorate physically, mentally, and mor- 
ally, should be seen in their true light. These can the better 
be seen by girls who have always associated with boys in 
the spirit of comradery; they are not so sensitive to the 
influence of masculinity as are girls who have been isolated. 
Whenever or wherever the idea of the difference in sex is 
minimized, are the best results to be seen in the social 
relations. 

Marriage between any but matured and mentally and 
physically sound people is not to be recommended. Should 
any such conclude that it is best to unite, they should insure 
future posterity against existence by learning to control 
procreation until such time as returning health would war- 
rant it. 

For the betterment of the race, there should be a con- 
stant cultivation of love in its unselfish aspect ; love between 
child and parent, which shall be something more than the 
clinging dependence of the weak upon the stronger, or the 
protection of the weak by the stronger. If fathers would 
give daughters those delicate sympathies and caresses 



THE DAUGHTER. 413 

demanded by their natures, they would not be so ready to 
yield to the first young man outside of home who showed 
them favor. And mothers should not deny the same atten- 
tion to the sons of the family. Between brother and sister 
a helpful affection should be cultivated; the affection that 
will surrender one's own wishes for the good of the other. 
When a young life is made to feel the refining, helpful 
influences of love in the home life, it will not be so easy 
to sever the connection for the untried affections of a 
marriage. 

Another essential of character to be cultivated, as much 
in girls as in boys, is self-reliance. This may be brought 
about by a course of training, which will enable a girl to 
pay her own expenses. Dependence after one has attained 
the years of responsibility is weakening to the moral fiber. 
Work is necessary for one to bear her true relation to 
society, and it is only necessary to respect one's self in the 
doing. The dignity is in the worker, not the work. 

George Herbert, centuries ago, said, — 

" Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws 
Makes that and the action fine." 

The girl with a trade or profession in which she is 
skilled, has a better basis for decision as to whether or 
not matrimony is sufficiently attractive. And in that she 
is vastly more independent than another who is brought 
up to believe marriage is the end and aim of her maiden- 
hood. 

It may be well here to mention again the subject of 



414 



FEMINOLOGY. 



dress, and the specially cultivated deformity of the Cau- 
casian race of women. It seems strange that any people 
would cultivate a deformity of any kind, but it is true, from 
antiquity to the present. Stranger yet, that the race pre- 
sumably the most enlightened should practice constantly 
the most injurious of all deformities upon the female half 




Cultivated Deformities. 

From Good Health, April, 1899. 

of the race. Strangest of all, that women themselves, after 
having learned the injurious effects of deformity-cultiva- 
tion, will continue in the error of their way, for sake of 
fashion. Men are often accessories to the crime of waist- 
compression, through condemning an uncorseted sister or 
wife as being slouchy. Unless she is well grounded in 
the principle of sparing herself the sin and suffering, she 
may return to that relic of the medieval idea of beauty. 
There are very few women of this day who know noth- 



THE DAUGHTER. 



415 



ing of the physiology of the human form, who do not 
know that breathing is curtailed, the circulation hindered, 
and all the vital organs crushed in and interfered with in 
their perfect work, by the corset. 

Within the lower chest and abdo- 
men (the portions deformed by corset 
wearers) each organ has its proper 
place and is so related to the sur- 
rounding organs, that not one can be 
pressed or pushed without interfer- 
ing, to some extent, with the others. 
No bony structure protecting this 
portion of the body, it is all the more 
susceptible to injury from without. 
The abdominal wall, composed of 
three layers of muscle, was by the 
Creator deemed sufficient support for 
this internal machinery. The wear- 
ing of a corset, however loose, pre- 
vents the full play of the abdominal 
muscles, and, by inaction and poor 
nourishment because of impeded cir- 
culation, they become flabby, with 
insufficient power to support the 
organs. Heavy skirts, if fastened 
simply around the waist, drag down on the pelvic viscera, 
causing weakness and prolapsion. Almost any disease that 
flesh is heir to may be traced to the corset and heavy skirts. 

For the girl whose life is to be fully developed, there 




A Well-Proportioned 
Female Figure. 

From Good Health, Apr., '99. 



4i 6 FEMINOLOGY. 

must be no tight bands, corsets, heavy skirts, or ill-fitting 
shoes; the dress must in no way impede or interfere with 
muscular activity. Clothing should be equally distributed 
to protect the body entirely. Any one, be it mother or 
daughter, who desires to substitute a hygienic system of 
dress for the conventional one, may easily find assistance 
in almost any journal of hygiene. Learn to use just as 
few articles as possible for warmth and appearance's sake, 
and do away with waist bands and narrow shoes. 

What is true of the dress of a growing girl, remains 
true when she becomes a woman. There is never a period 
in her life when she can afford to compress the waist, feet, 
or any other part of the body. 

There are frequent sufferers among girls, from some 
special derangement, as headache, backache, constipation, 
pimples on the face, etc. Headache is usually caused by 
some habit that prevents free circulation of the blood, or 
from breathing impure air. Sick headache is often due 
to stomach derangement, from eating indigestibles, and 
may be relieved by emptying the undigested mass by way 
of the mouth, and afterward drinking hot water. Then 
commit the sin no more. 

Headache from constipation is, of course, relieved by 
removing the cause. For this, nothing is more valuable 
than the flushing treatment recommended in other parts 
of this work. The caution to be observed is to cleanse the 
lower bowel thoroughly. Many persons use but a little 
water, and expel but a small part of the impacted mass, 
and complain they are not benefited; that is but the begin- 



THE DAUGHTER. 417 

ning of the treatment. After the lower bowel expels the 
effete matter, use more water, retaining it as long as may- 
be; repeat again, after that has been thrown out. In this 
way all offending matter may be reached and cleansed away, 
even as far as the small intestine. Backache is often due 
to constipation, and may be relieved as above. No girl 
can be rosy and healthy, and allow herself to be constipated. 

Headache during menstruation is relieved by hot sitz 
baths, or hot footbaths, along with drinking some mild 
stimulating infusion, as catnip, pennyroyal, or ginger. 

The backache from which girls at puberty suffer is often 
due to cold or chill; sometimes the presence of worms in 
the intestine causes it. Backache, in nearly all cases, is 
a symptom of derangement of some other part than the 
seat of pain itself. 

Never allow narcotic plasters to be thought of as a 
means of relief. Instead of removing the cause, they merely 
deaden the sensitive nerve cells, so that the message of 
pain cannot be sent to the brain. 

Pain is not a disease; it is not even necessary to have 
an accident or be diseased, to have pain. It is a message 
that an unnatural condition exists somewhere in the body; 
when frequent messages have been disregarded, disease, 
or lesion, sets in. Whatever obstruction there is in the 
vital forces, on being overcome early prevents sickness. 

A hot, dry flannel placed over the seat of pain (of 
backache) is soothing, and often relieves entirely. 

Pimples on the face will disappear when a hygienic 
mode of living is established. A sufferer from this dis- 
27 



41 8 FEMINOLOGY. 

figurement ought to be glad to throw away her corset and 
other disease-breeding garments, and wear common-sense 
apparel, that the blood may have a free circulation, the 
lungs room to expand, and the muscles a chance to act. 
Then, if she eats proper food, without too much meat and 
pastry, and keeps clean inside and outside, there will be 
every reason to expect buoyant health. The process of 
clearing up the complexion may be hastened by the fol- 
lowing : — 

5 Fl. Ex. Cascara Aromatica 4 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Euonymus 2 drams. 

Glycerine 1 ounce. 

Essence Peppermint 10 drops. 

Add Simple Sirup, to make 4 ounces. 

Dose: Teaspoonful night and morning. 

Tincture Echinacea 4 drams. 

Saturated Solution Boracic Acid.i^4 ounces. 
Mix. Apply to the face on retiring. 

It must be understood that the tissues are full of waste 
matter, the accumulation of years, and that it will take 
time to cleanse the system. The above treatment contin- 
ued faithfully for a period of two months will bring delight 
to the heart of the young girl whose face was pimple-cov- 
ered by reason of constipation. 

Every girl should be taught to have a self-respecting 
pride in keeping her person well groomed; first, because 
she will be the better, both physically and mentally; sec- 
ond, that she will look the better. Through neglect of the 
bath, both externally and internally, the system becomes 



THE DAUGHTER. 419 

clogged and overworked in some particular, and some phase 
of suffering results. 

Many authorities recommend that the bath be discon- 
tinued during menstruation, but it is not here advised, 
provided it can be taken in a warm room. It is a possible 
chill, and its consequent ill effects, that are to be avoided. 

Happy is the maid who early learns the secret of keep- 
ing well, through obedience to the laws of her being; who 
may know the value of cheerfulness and unselfishness, and 
thus be a blessing to family and friends. Like as the waters 
of a spring are kept pure by constant giving and replen- 
ishing, so the human soul is kept from stagnation and self- 
ishness, by shedding of its own love and cheerfulness. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MENSTRUATION AND ITS DISORDERS. 

The discharge of blood, which is one of the physical 
signs of puberty in girls, is known by various designations ; 
as, the menses, the courses, the periods, the catamenia, or 
menstruation. It indicates that ovulation, a. distinctly 
feminine function, has begun. 

As the age of puberty approaches, nature's preparation 
for the same is to be seen in the increased size of the pelvic 
region, allowing room for the needed growth of ovaries, 
Fallopian tubes, and uterus. When the system is ready 
for the appearance of the menses, the flow occurs with 
scarcely any further indication of its approach. 

Many physiologists have asserted that this is a secre- 
tion of the uterus, and not really an overflow of blood. 
Dr. Pancoast asserts that it is blood, but that the acid secre- 
tions of the vagina destroy the coagulating properties. 

The discharge continues from two to six days, and 
then ceases, to reappear about every twenty-eight days 
for thirty or thirty-five years. 

Between the beginning of the menses and the cessa- 
tion, is the time the sex is capable of bearing children; 
the best time being when the body is well matured, usually 
about the age of twenty-five, until thirty-five. 

However, all girls are not equally robust in physique. 
420 



MENSTRUATION AND ITS DISORDERS. 421 

While normally the menses should appear without pain, 
perhaps, in the majority of cases, more or less physical 
disturbance is to be seen. Sometimes there exists consid- 
erable lassitude, with mental unrest, and backache. Often 
there is tendency to hysteria, mental irritability, and nerv- 
ousness. A not infrequent premonitory occurrence is bleed- 
ing from the nose, or the lungs, or the stomach. At any 
other time such symptoms might give alarm, but when at 
the age of puberty, are from the increased blood pressure 
resulting from the development of the menstrual function. 
Sometimes the symptoms are obscure and confusing, and 
are mistaken for ailments of an entirely different nature. 
Acute pain, accompanied with some degree of tightness 
and oppression, may suggest flatulency, while irregular and 
heavy pain may suggest the presence of worms. In occa- 
sional instances, after the flow occurs once, it is arrested 
for two or more months, then occurs again at irregular 
intervals. 

Before the flow occurs for the first time, every girl 
should know from some wise and loving source, that it 
is to be expected, that it is a natural function, and that 
care must be used during the flow, to protect her health. 
What has seemed to be an apparent hemorrhage has fright- 
ened many a girl, who, in striving to check it by applica- 
tions of cold water or otherwise, has brought on derange- 
ments of serious and often fatal character. Some of the 
worst difficulties physicians have had to encounter, were 
superinduced by the carelessness or ignorance of girls over- 
taken by this function of nature, without correct knowledge 



422 FEMINOLOGY. 

regarding it. Some may have been informed that it would 
occur; but were not told of the dangers of exposure or 
overwork during the flow. Wet feet, or damp garments, 
in fact anything that might engender a cold at any time, is 
more dangerous during menstruation. That old barbaric 
custom, which has made it necessary for girls and women 
to visit cold, draughty outhouses in all weathers, to obey 
the calls of nature, is responsible for many of the derange- 
ments of the sex. 

The amount of the discharge and the number of days 
it continues, vary in different girls. The only way to judge 
if the amount be normal, is the effect on the health. What 
might be only a healthful flow in a strong, robust girl, 
would be excessive in a weakly girl. 

When the menses occur and are then absent for two or 
three months, it indicates that the system is not quite ready 
for the permanent establishment of the function. General 
rules of hygiene should be observed, and when health is 
normal, the function becomes adjusted without special treat- 
ment. A suppression, or stoppage, of the flow would be 
followed by derangements or decline, and need not be con- 
fused with the intermittent periods when the function first 
begins. 

The warm footbaths and sitz baths are valuable aids 
in overcoming early menstrual difficulties, as well as in 
later life. It is important that the bowels move daily. On 
the other hand, a thin evacuation, coming on suddenly on 
arising, or soon thereafter, shows a weakened condition, 
and should be called to the physician's attention. 



\ 
\ 



MENSTRUATION AND ITS DISORDERS. 423 

As to the cause of menstruation, Dr. Pancoast says, 
" Menstruation is caused and maintained by the ovaries 
during the process of preparing and ripening the ova ; when 
the ovum is expelled, the excitement of the ovary ceases, 
and with it the exciting cause producing the discharge from 
the uterus — the vessels of which contract and arrest the 
flow of fluid, until another period of menstruation arrives." 

When the ovaries are removed, menstruation ceases; 
also when the ovaries are congenitally deficient, no men- 
struation occurs. When they cease to develop and emit 
ova, as during pregnancy, menstruation is arrested. 

Although not diseases of the generative organs, chlo- 
rosis, hysteria, and St. Vitus' s dance sometimes develop 
when the menses are being established. 

The characteristics of chlorosis are intense paleness of 
skin, lips, and lining membrane of the eyelids, the pale- 
ness having a suggestion of green, hence the name. A 
scrofulous or consumptive predisposition is frequently the 
cause, though it occurs when these are not present. There 
is a lack of red corpuscles in the blood, and the watery 
portion is often transfused through the veins to the skin, 
causing a dropsical condition. When long continued, . the 
disease is very weakening. The appetite is often scanty, 
or else perverted, the girl eating indigestibles, as clay, chalk, 
or slate pencils. Breathing becomes difficult, and palpi- 
tation of the heart is induced by slight exertion or mental 
excitement. With this anemic condition of the blood, the 
menstrual flow becomes scanty, often ceases. The bowels 
become constipated, and the urine pale though abundant. 



424 FEMINOLOGY. 

Chlorosis, of itself, is not fatal; but the danger lies in 
organic diseases that may follow, as dropsy, paralysis, val- 
vular diseases of the heart, or consumption. It may be 
caused by overwork in the schoolroom, with lack of open- 
air exercise, and mental anxiety. The habit of self-abuse 
may accompany and add to the strength of other causes. 

In effecting a cure, the causes must be discovered and 
removed. Proper hygienic regulations must be established. 
The girl should be taken from school, and allowed physical 
freedom. The diet should be of the most nourishing and 
easily digested foods. Salt-water baths are beneficial. The 
bowels should be made to act freely. In short, that life 
established that will increase the vitality of the body and 
richness of the blood. 

Although chlorosis generally occurs at puberty, it may 
affect those who are older, and even married women. The 
regular return of the menses is the most reliable indication 
of returning strength and health, and complete recovery. 
To such an one the following is recommended : — 

5 Viburnum Compound i ounce. 

Fl. Ex. Dioscorea 2 drams. 

Simple Sirup to make 4 ounces. 

Dose : Teaspoonful four times a day. 

If constipation exists, give alom pill, one-half grain, 
to keep the bowels freely active. 

Hysteria is the highest pitch of nervous reflex action, 
due to derangement in the generative system. It is treated 
extensively under the head of diseases of women. When 
the symptoms are present in the young girl entering puberty, 



MENSTRUATION AND ITS DISORDERS. 425 

general observation of the rules of health makes the system 
impervious to the attacks, 

St. Vitus' s dance, or, more properly, chorea, is a tend- 
ency to involuntary and irregular muscular contractions 
of the face and limbs. The mind and functions of the 
brain are not affected, beyond the apparent loss of control 
over the muscular action. Most cases begin gradually, 
through impaired digestion. Headache, wakefulness, irri- 
tability, and low spirits, are symptoms. The muscles of 
the head, mouth, and tongue are early affected; then the 
arms, legs, and, lastly, the whole body, if the disease is 
allowed to progress. 

Medication alone cannot arrest chorea. There must 
also be the strictest attention to the laws of hygiene. When 
the disease occurs before puberty, it generally disappears 
when the menstrual flow is established. 

Anything that excites nervousness is a drawback to 
recovery, as anxiety, fear, quarrels, or chidings. The 
patient should be kept in as calm and tranquil state of mind 
as possible. When she has not become invalided by the 
disease, the cure will be found entirely in re-establishing 
a normal condition of health through diet, exercise, baths, 
and fresh air. Gymnastics, when not carried to the point 
of fatigue, will have a beneficial effect in correcting the 
irregular muscular movements. Sea bathing, where pos- 
sible, is commended. Salt and sulphur baths are also valu- 
able; and gentle currents of electricity renew the vital 
forces. To establish the menses, pursue treatment for 
chlorosis. 



426 FEMINOLOGY. 

The principal menstrual derangements are known as 
dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, and Menorrhagia; or, painful 
menstruation, suppressed menstruation, and profuse men- 
struation. 

Dysmenorrhea is quite the most common. Very few 
women or girls there are who have not, at some time, suf- 
fered from painful menstruation. And some have suffered 
from the beginning of the discharge to its cessation, or 
from puberty to the menopause. The usual causes of pain- 
ful menstruation are exposure, overexertion, obstinate con- 
stipation, or improper dressing. 

Usually a day or two before the period, there is a dull 
ache in the lower part of the abdomen, back, and loins. 
There may be headache, nervousness, and wakefulness. 
Some are relieved when the discharge begins, others suffer 
throughout the period. In severe cases, the pain is often 
so intense as to cause spasms. Indeed, it is not uncommon 
for this periodical suffering to be more distressing than 
the average childbirth. 

Authorities have given a name to each variety of pain- 
ful menstruation, the most common forms being, congestive 
dysmenorrhea, inflammatory dysmenorrhea, and obstructive 
dysmenorrhea. 

The congestive form of dysmenorrhea is a condition 
in which the capillaries of the generative system become 
so distended with blood, as to cause tension of the nerve 
fibers. This gives rise to pain, prolonged more or less, 
according to the time the blood is escaping through the 
inner surface of the uterus. At first, there is a full, heavy 



MENSTRUATION AND ITS DISORDERS. 427 

feeling, accompanied or preceded by backache. The womb 
begins to throb and pain, and often there is nausea and 
vomiting. These symptoms may be continuous, or inter- 
mittent, until the flow begins, which relieves the congestion 
and consequent pain. The cause of the congestion is usu- 
ally found to be imprudence in allowing cold to be taken. 
The mucous lining of the uterus is so affected that the 
capillaries cannot empty their contents, as in the natural 
form of the menstrual function. This phase of suffering 
is often established with the first menstrual flow, through 
ignorance of the effect of cold or chill. Wet shoes or other 
damp garments being worn, sudden change from heat to 
cold, sitting in draughts, are common imprudences. 

The hot hip bath is a valuable agent in relieving con- 
gestive dysmenorrhea. The system is soothed and relaxed, 
the pain almost always overcome because the flow will 
begin by this treatment. Hot drinks of teas, or even hot 
water, facilitate recovery. An infusion of Virginia snake 
root is an excellent remedy for all kinds of painful men- 
struation. Injections into the bowels of water as hot as 
can be borne will assist in reducing the pain or removing 
the cause, especially if there exists any constipation. 

Inflammatory dysmenorrhea is due to a condition of 
inflammation of ovaries and uterus. During the flow, the 
entire system sympathizes, as indicated by fever and lan- 
guor, and the pain is often agonizing, at frequent intervals, 
throughout the flow. An eminent American writer describes 
this form of painful menstruation in the following lan- 
guage:— 



428 FEMINOLOGY. 

" In the healthy state, the mucus secreted inside the 
womb is of an alkali nature. The blood, being slightly 
alkaline, when it flows into the cavity of the healthy womb, 
comes in contact and mixes freely with the mucus of the 
same nature, is slightly thinned, and flows away as men- 
struation proceeds. When the chronic inflammation obtains, 
the nature of the mucus is changed to acid, which coagu- 
lates the menstrual blood. The clot grows larger, as more 
blood flows in, until the cavity of the uterus is filled. Then 
the muscular walls contract, as in labor pains, until the 
offending clot is expelled. Comparative comfort ensues, 
until another clot forms. This may take place several 
times during each menstrual period." 

" Constitutional disturbances will always be found pres- 
ent in this form of dysmenorrhea. The blood is usually 
unhealthy, either impoverished, or surcharged with car- 
bonic acid gas, from bad respiration or bad air; while the 
liver and kidneys are seldom found performing their 
respective functions properly. Constipation is often pres- 
ent, and leucorrhea seldom absent." 

In contrast with congestive dysmenorrhea the pain does 
not begin until the flow starts, or until clots are formed 
in the uterus. 

In some cases, a membrane will form covering the 
entire inner surface of the womb, and be discharged com- 
pletely at one expulsive effort. This is known as croupous 
dysmenorrhea, because the false membrane resembles that 
which forms in the throat in croup, and is due to catarrhal 
inflammation. 



MENSTRUATION AND ITS DISORDERS. 429 

The treatment for this phase of painful menstruation 
must be largely constitutional. Wholesome food; breath- 
ing exercises to purify the blood; injections of warm or 
hot water to cleanse away the offensive sewage of the body ; 
abundance of fresh air, and salt-water baths, will tend to 
invigorate the system and overcome the malady, without 
resort to medication. But many will prefer to to be doped 
and dosed, because it requires strength of purpose to live 
according to the laws of health. For such, there are always 
drug and doctor shops without conscience, beyond securing 
the price of prescriptions. 

For painful menstruation of any form, use the Vibernum 
Comp. preparation prescribed in treatment of chlorosis, with 
the aloein pills. Also, one day before the date of the 
menses, take two and one half grains each, Sorbilin and 
Salcin, every three hours. This, with the hot-water treat- 
ment, will break up the periodicity of the attacks, and they 
will, in the course of a few months, cease to trouble. 

For obstructive dysmenorrhea, there are varying causes, 
some of which are, deformities in structure, displacement 
of the uterus, ulcers or tumors in the neck of the uterus, 
and stricture, or want of capacity in the cervix. An imper- 
forate hymen, or where the opening is too small to allow 
free passage of the menstrual flow, sometimes exists at 
puberty. The girl suffers all the pains of congestive dys- 
menorrhea, and, where the hymen is imperforate, of course, 
there is no flow. It will be necessary to rupture the mem- 
brane, which is a painless bit of surgery. A partial or 
entire retention of the menstrual blood poisons the general 



430 FEMINOLOGY. 

circulation, and generates more or less serious uterine 
disorders. 

Whenever obstruction is suspected, the case should be 
placed in the hands of a skilled and trusted physician, who 
will use his or her knowledge to overcome the same, and 
re-establish health. 

An hygienic life will usually prevent such disorder; and 
will certainly assist in removing it. 

The suffering through dysmenorrhea is such torture 
that many women and girls resort to alcohol and nar- 
cotics to deaden the pain. They are goaded to risk any- 
thing to find relief, even though it be but temporary. No 
one should allow herself to endure this pain month after 
month. Certainly no young girl should have to suffer, with- 
out the mother's trying to discover the cause, and admin- 
istering the cure. It undermines the nervous system, and 
often ruins general health. 

Amenorrhea and suppressed menstruation are used 
synonymously by many writers. Strictly speaking, how- 
ever, amenorrhea is a term applied to stoppage of the menses 
in early life, before the periods have become regularly estab- 
lished, while suppression indicates a nonappearance of the 
flow, due to extraneous causes or constitutional derange- 
ment, after menstruation has become well established. 

Amenorrhea may be attended by various forms of 
nervous trouble, as epilepsy, hysteria, etc., and if the menses 
are not established within a reasonable time, consumption 
is apt to follow. It is therefore necessary that energetic 
treatment be undertaken and persisted in. That prescribed 



MENSTRUATION AND ITS DISORDERS. 431 

for vicarious menstruation will meet all the conditions pres- 
ent in amenorrhea. 

Suppressed menstruation, a disorder of the periodical 
flow, may have for its causes, accident, constitutional 
derangement, or physical imperfection. 

Prominent among accidental causes are sudden expos- 
ure to cold, when the body is overheated ; ablutions in cold 
water; hemorrhage from any part of the body; any exces- 
sive pain or great mental shock. Change of clothing dur- 
ing the flow will produce suppression with some women. 

When any constitutional weakness exists, very slight 
causes will produce suppression of the menses. Overwork, 
study, late hours, poor food, bad air, a sedentary life, an 
ocean voyage, anything that lowers vitality may act as an 
immediate cause. Consumption, or any other debilitating 
disease, will induce this disorder ; and the stoppage, through 
cold or exposure, will induce constitutional maladies. 

In cases of acute suppression, the symptoms are like 
those of congestive dysmenorrhea: pain in the back and 
abdomen, headache, with alternate chilliness and fever. 

If the suppression is not overcome soon, chronic inflam- 
mation of the uterus and ovaries is apt to be engendered. 
Women or girls so affected are morbid and melancholy 
individuals; their faces are pale, flesh flabby, and move- 
ments languid; they are a prey to such disorders as hys- 
teria and hypochondria. Should the disorder continue, more 
serious results occur. 

In treating amenorrhea, all strong, forcing remedies 
must be avoided. 



432 FEMINOLOGY. 

At or before the regular time for the appearance of 
the menses, the hot sitz baths, hot footbaths, hot injec- 
tions to both bowel and vagina, hot infusions of catnip, 
pennyroyal, or ginger, should be used several nights in 
succession, before retiring. If the flow is not induced by 
this treatment, during the month following special atten- 
tion must be given to general conditions for health; and 
at the close, repeat. Plenty of outdoor exercise, pleasant 
indoor occupation, freedom from care, and abundance of 
sleep, will assist in re-establishing the function. The case 
that will not yield to such treatment is rare. 

^ Vibernum Compound i ounce. 

Simple Sirup, to make 4 ounces. 

Dose : Teaspoonful four times a day. 

This will be found of great benefit in suppression. Or 
the following may be taken with equally good results : — 

^ Liriodendron Compound 4 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Avena Sativa 2 drams. 

Simple Sirup, to make 4 ounces. 

Dose : Teaspoonful three or four times a day. 

The patient must not allow herself to take cold, how- 
ever. Complications and delays are thereby induced, and 
if the cure is not cut off: entirely, it is very much delayed. 

When there is suppression of menstruation on account of 
the absence of the organs of generation, or because of their 
imperfect development, the cause is said to be plupicaL In 
such cases, there is no inconvenience or suffering on account 
of the absence of the flow. 



MENSTRUATION AND ITS DISORDERS. 433 

Sometimes the uterus is absent, again the ovaries; or 
one or "both are infantile in development, in which cases 
there is no ovulation and no sexual development. 

But all such occurrences are so rare as to be curiosities, 
hardly to be met with in a lifetime; and are not amenable 
to treatment. It is supposed nature had not conditions 
fitting to perfect the individual before birth, like the builder 
who has not material enough to finish a structure; hence 
the incomplete products. 

Menorrhagia, or excessive menstrual flow, has usually 
a constitutional cause. The normal quantity of blood 
voided at one period varies largely in different women. 
But one may be said to have menorrhagia when she dis- 
charges more than is customary, or when the flow is pro- 
longed beyond the usual number of days (which is rarely 
less than two days, or more than six), or when it recurs 
oftener than once a month. Excessive marital indulgence 
is a frequent cause of profuse menstruation. Scrofulous 
persons or those suffering from liver or kidney disease are 
subject to the disorder. 

A life of indolence and indulgence, by debilitating the 
system, often results in an abnormal discharge. Violent 
exercise, lifting heavy weights, falls, fright, anger, or over- 
excitment, induce menorrhagia. 

Excessive menstruation ought in no- way to be con- 
fused with uterine hemorrhage. Unlike menorrhagia, the 
hemorrhage [metorrhagia] is due to some local cause, has 
no stated time for occurrence, and will continue until the 

local cause is removed. 
28 



434 FEMINOLOGY. 

Menorrhagia cannot continue without weakness and 
debility soon being made manifest. The treatment depends 
upon the cause. If the system is exhausted or debilitated, 
that which will build up the vital forces must be enjoined. 

IJ Popular Comp 5ij. 

Fl. Ex. Helonias Dioica 3ij. 

Simple Sirup, q.s. ad §v. 

Dose : Teaspoonful four times daily. 

Nourishing food, fresh air, moderate exercise, the tepid 
sponge bath, and abundant sleep are among the essentials. 
If married, strict continence is enjoined. 

If the cause is overexertion, mental or physical, rest is 
the chief requisite. 

3J Oil Cinnamon 

Oil Erigeron aa 4 drams. 

Mix. 

Dose : Five drops on teaspoonful sugar every ten or fif- 
teen minutes, until flow is normal. Excellent in any form 
of uterine hemorrhage. 

Full-blooded women may be placed upon a regulated 
vegetable diet, with acidulated drink. In all cases, the 
bowels must be kept free from obstruction. 

Menorrhagia, from inflammatory or structural disease 
of the uterus, will require the physician's aid. If the above 
therapeutics will not overcome the difficulty, a woman 
should consign her case to a conscientious doctor, as she 
cannot long endure the drain on her system. 

Vicarious menstruation is the discharge of blood from 
some other part of the body than the uterus, and is caused 



MENSTRUATION AND ITS DISORDERS. 435 

by suppression. It is sometimes vomited from the stomach ; 
or thrown off by the lungs ; or discharged from the bladder 
with the urine; or from the bowels; or through the nose. 
In some women there is nosebleed periodically with the 
menses. 

In treating this form of disorder, such remedies should 
be used as exert their chief influence on the uterus : — 

^ Mitchella Comp 3 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Cottonroot 2 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Phytolacca 2 drams. 

Ess. Peppermint 10 drops. 

Sirup Ginger, to make 4 ounces. 

Dose : Teaspoonful three to four times a day. One 

aloin tablet, before retiring. 

This treatment, persisted in, will restore health, relieving 
whatever nervous symptoms may be present. 

The suppression should be corrected as soon as pos- 
sible. Such unnatural processes must, sooner or later, inter- 
fere with the normal functions of the body. 

Where the vicarious flow amounts to a hemorrhage, 
treatment must be used to check it. The circulation must 
be equalized, by applying heat to the extremities. If from 
the bowels, bladder, lungs, or stomach, the treatment should 
correspond. 

A recommendation, that, while simple, is full of wis- 
dom, is to drink plenty of water before and during the 
menstrual period. Not only should a girl drink all she 
craves, but also take large draughts every time it occurs 
to her to do so. The economy of the body needs water 



436 FEMINOLOGY. 

in abundance, inside and outside. In all cases of painful 
or disordered menstruation, the more water taken at the 
recurrence of the periods, the better for establishing condi- 
tions of normal health. 

Errors in dress and diet must also be corrected before 
the body will be able to do its perfect work. Mothers and 
daughters are largely outgrowing the old sentimentalism 
of the necessity for tight corsets and bands about the 
waist of the human female. It is of such injurious nature, 
and so much of promising life has been sacrificed to the 
cast-iron Moloch, that love and good sense, together with a 
knowledge of the injurious effects, have come to the rescue. 
Formerly, a blossoming young lady thought the tighter 
her stays and smoother her bodice, the more fascinating 
her appearance. The chest and pelvis are well guarded 
by bony structure, and are not points of attack; although 
it would be just as reasonable for a woman to crowd and 
cramp and bind her poor body at those points, as through 
her more elastic middle. When the corset hampered the 
action of the heart, diaphragm, liver, stomach, and other 
internal organs, and the heavy bands and skirts dragged 
down the abdominal viscera, it was no wonder the belle 
and beauty of yesterday needed powder and rouge to make 
up a good complexion. 

To the bright, intelligent, ideal girl of to-day, those 
are things of the past, along with tallow dips and spinning 
wheels. Her all-round hygienic life makes its own roses 
and lilies in her complexion, and she is proud to be known 
as athletic and muscular, where her grandmother preferred 



MENSTRUATION AJND ITS DISORDERS. 437 

fainting delicacy. In such a life, menstruation takes care 
of itself. Every organ of the body working harmoniously 
leaves no room for chlorosis, hysteria, amenorrhea, or dys- 
menorrhea. 

It is rarely necessary to curtail education on account 
of the physical health, — no more necessary in the case of 
a girl than a boy. Girls can endure study quite as well 
as their brothers, provided the body is no more disabled 
by the clothes worn, or their digestions impaired by food 
not suitable. 



CHAPTER XX. 

DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 

The generative system of womankind is so subject to 
derangement, it is said that at least nine tenths of American 
women suffer from some form or other of " female " com- 
plaint. This part of the body being so highly sensitive 
to good and bad conditions, becomes impaired, largely 
through dress, diet, and general wrong-living before mar- 
riage; the latter being continued after marriage, until the 
breaking down calls a halt. When the patient becomes 
an invalid, hygienic measures may be resorted to under the 
physician's instruction; but only as a last resort. Addi- 
tional cause for general destruction of health is found in 
marital excesses and too frequent child-bearing; or mari- 
tal excesses, in connection with which, are used unhealthy 
modes of preventing conception; or abortions. 

" Every violation of the laws of health, every injury 
to the organs of any other function, must entail mischief 
and disorder upon the reproductive system. It suffers, 
above all, from the irregular or excessive action of its own 
organism. Stimulated to premature development by the 
luxuries of artificial life, what should be the happiness, the 
delight, the glory of woman, becomes her dread, her misery, 
her despair." — Pancoast. 

A return to the normal mode of life will eliminate 
438 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 



439 




Section of Female Pelvis and its Contained Viscera. 

A, uterus; B, bladder; C, C, rectum; D, anterior; and E, posterior lip of cervix uteri; 
F, connective tissue uniting the anterior wall of uterus to the bladder; G, loose tissue between 
the posterior wall of uterus and rectum ; H, vagina. 

much of the suffering of womankind, without medication. 
Nature, being constantly changing according to the sur- 
roundings, becomes in the female nature, better or worse, 



440 FEMIN0L0GY. 

as good or ill conditions are provided. Healthy dress, 
good food, with exercise, rest and recreation of equal pro- 
portions, abundance of sunshine and pure air, cheery com- 
panions, and no excesses, ought to develop magnificent 
womanhood. But only in rare instances are women able 
to make or sustain equable circumstances for preserving 
health. 

However, women have allowed themselves to be drifted 
about by events, instead of controlling them. They have 
submitted to Fashion's decrees, while knowing corsets, 
bands, and heavy skirts were injuring them; they eat and 
drink of that which does not upbuild the body; they live 
indolently, or partake of enervating pleasures and excesses. 
On a whole, they are no better than men, though, perhaps, 
their dissipations are, as a rule, more refined. But when 
life is the stake, the delicate, insidious poisons of Cath- 
erine de Medici were as potent as was later the guillotine 
of the Revolutionists. 

In the marriage relation, women are more often mar- 
tyrs than sinners. Without a true knowledge of what that 
intimacy should mean, and listening to the voice of custom 
and precedent, which commands obedience to the desires 
of the connubial partner, be they what they may, women 
have submitted, with various degrees of grace. Many 
struggle to preserve a well-poised individuality against the 
awful submission of harlotry; but few succeed. The out- 
ward life must harmonize with the inward life; disease 
will sooner or later show its levelling influence. It is safe 
to judge that a healthy, happy wife is never prostituted; 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 441 




Nerves of the Uterus. 

1, sacrum; 2, rectum; 3, bladder; 4, uterus; 5, ovary; 6, extremity of Fallopian tube. 

and just to say that the wan, hollow-eyed, sad-faced wife 
is a martyr to connubial sensuality. 

The transition state from a rudimentary civilization to 
one of greater promise, allows the seeking and finding of 



442 FEMINOLOGY. 

blighting causes. Before it began, it was considered out- 
side of all reason to look into the marriage relation as the 
source of wrong. A man's home was his castle, into which 
prying impertinence must be excluded; and a man's busi- 
ness was his own, in no way subject to investigation. But 
when the outcroppings of injustice showed their piteous, 
pleading faces, humanity dared question whence came the 
wrong. The finding has been slow, because of the pride 
of womankind. If the man gave her a blow, it was all 
right, so the neighbors could not see its mark. The exterior 
must be smooth, no matter how loudly the bones of the 
" skeleton in the closet " rattled. 

The organs of generation are intimately connected, and 
a diseased condition of one affects others ; in turn, the whole 
body sympathizes. This system is superabundantly sup- 
plied with blood vessels. Any condition that calls an undue 
amount of blood to the parts cannot be of long standing 
and not develop some degree of inflammation. There is 
inflammation of the vagina, uterus, Fallopian tubes, and 
ovaries, in acute and chronic states; sometimes all being 
afflicted, sometimes one or two. If the acute stage is not 
regarded and treated, the chronic stage ensues, which often 
steadily resists treatment. 

Inflammation of the vagina, or vaginihis, is a common 
form of suffering, due to too frequent or too violent sexual 
intercourse, the use of harsh preventives to conception, or 
wearing pessaries for falling of the womb; masturbation 
is also one of the causes. Anything, in fact, irritating to 
the vaginal walls will induce inflammation. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 443 

The symptoms are a stinging, burning sensation, with 
constant desire to urinate ; a feeling of weight ; sharp, shoot- 
ing pains, occasionally. 

The cure consists in not allowing the source of irrita- 
tion to be renewed. If constipation exists, the bowels must 
be cleansed of effete matter. Vaginal injections of water, 
hot as can be borne, should be used three or four times 
daily, until relief ensues. Overexertion must be avoided. 

Simple home treatment often relieves the acute attacks 
afflicting the generative system. And where a woman 
understands herself, she will never allow the derangement 
to become chronic. 

Congestion in any organ is that condition where the 
circulation is impeded by obstructions, either partially or 
completely. It is overcome by equalizing the circulation, 
calling the undue amount of blood from the afflicted part 
to the extremities or surface of the body. (See Treat- 
ment, Inflammation of Uterus.) 

Inflammation of the uterus (womb) or metritis, is due 
to a variety of causes, among which may be named expo- 
sure during the menses, overexertion, excessive bicycle or 
horseback riding, excessive or violent intercourse, abor- 
tions, severe purgatives, etc. 

Pain is experienced in the abdomen, back, and thighs; 
the womb enlarges, and, with all surrounding parts, becomes 
tender to the touch. The bladder becomes sensitive, and 
evacuations constant and painful, from both bowel and 
bladder. At the very outset, there is chill, followed by 
rapid pulse and increased temperature of varying degree. 



444 FEMINOLOGY. 

Headache is almost constant, and in some patients, there 
is faintness, nausea, and vomiting. 

The sufferer may take a hot footbath and tepid sitz 
bath, and go to bed. Where the pain is severe, a hot corn- 
meal poultice (before mentioned in this work) may be pre- 
pared and applied to the abdomen, and the hot-water bottle 
or hot irons placed to the feet. If the suffering lasts several 
days, the bowels must be kept freely open while the treat- 
ment is persisted in. Vaginal injections of hot water, one 
or two gallons at a time, will relieve the inflammation and 
cleanse away the offensive discharges, after which, gently 
press around the mouth of the womb a pledget of cotton 
saturated with glycerine and laudanum. This will afford 
the patient great relief, and eventually a cure. 

And it is to be hoped that women sufferers may, in future, 
be largely spared the indelicate, almost inhuman, treatment 
practiced upon the sex in the past; as, scraping the inner 
surface of the womb, cutting and cauterizing the cervix, 
removing ovaries, etc. Surgery and local treatment at 
the doctor's hands are so seldom needed and so frequently 
used, that infinitely more harm than good results there- 
from. When any female disorder has become chronic, 
constitutional treatment is as much needed as local. 

Inflammation of the Fallopian tubes, or salpingitis, 
usually comes from ovarian or uterine inflammation. The 
tubes are of delicate structure, being only about the diam- 
eter of a broom straw, and the canal scarce admitting a 
bristle at the uterine end. Enveloped as they are in the 
broad ligament, inflammation of the tubes is apt to extend, 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 445 

and peritonitis result. In which case the treatment must 
be for peritonitis, under direction of the physician. 

As the result of inflammation, one or both tubes may 
become closed, producing sterility. 

There are no distinctive symptoms of salpingitis; but 
one that would especially awaken suspicion is an occasional 
discharge, or gush of mucus or purulent fluid from the 
vagina. Pain may be severe, or not ; is sometimes burning, 
sometimes colicky; is worse at the menstrual period. The 
trouble is usually the result of other complications ; when the 
attacks are oft repeated, there is danger from the possible 
formation of cystic tumors. 

Inflammation of the ovaries is due to similar causes 
that induce uterine inflammation. Tight clothing, heavy 
skirts, suppression of the menses, excessive exercise, may 
be enumerated as among the influences creating it. In 
the acute attacks, there is no noticeable swelling; but when 
allowed to become chronic, dropsy or suppuration may 
ensue, and tumor develop. 

There will be pain and tenderness in the groin of the 
affected side, which is increased by walking or standing. 
As with other inflamed organs of generation, the bladder 
and bowels are more or less affected. Menstruation will 
be painful and irregular. 

When the symptoms are not severe, the attack may 
be overcome by quietude in bed, and efforts used to draw 
the blood from the pelvic region. A cold compress should 
be applied over the ovarian region of the abdomen, and 
heat to the feet. The patient should rest as easily as pos- 



446 FEMINOLOGY. 

sible, until the attack is well overcome. If she allow her- 
self to worry, it retards recovery in all cases. 

Chronic inflammation will require months before it can 
be overcome ; but the condition is too serious to be neglected. 
(See treatment, inflammation of womb and suppression 
of menses.) 

Dropsy is a disease that may affect one or both ovaries, 
or the uterus. 

Ovarian dropsy is usually preceded by chronic inflam- 
mation. An accumulation of fluid begins in the Graafian 
follicles of the ovary, and often increases to an enormous 
quantity. The accumulation may exist in a variety of 
forms, the most common being the simple and compound 
cysts. 

The simple ovarian cyst is a simple sac hanging as 
an appendage to the ovarian ligament, and varying in 
size from a pea to a human head. The coat of the cyst 
becomes thickened, though not uniformly so; and lies 
within the peritoneal covering of the ovary itself. The 
inner surface of the cystic coat has a large number of 
blood vessels, which supply the fluid secreted. 

The compound cyst consists of a greater or less number 
of smaller cysts developed within the original one. The 
smaller cysts are irregular in size, some enlarging so rapidly 
that the membranous covering bursts within the parent sac. 

The fluid matter differs in the different form of cysts, 
being thin in the single form and more dense in the com- 
pound ; it is usually of the nature of blood and pus. 

When the cysts enlarge enough to interfere with the 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 



447 



functions of the abdominal viscera, relief is obtained through 
tapping, but this is but temporary. The only successful and 
sure cure is in the surgical removal of the cysts. 

If taken in time the development may be arrested by a 





Front View. Back View. 

Natural Body Brace. 

systematic course of hot baths, with friction and the per- 
sistent use of verbascum and capsicum over the affected part. 
The following constitutional remedies should be admin- 
istered : — 



If Sirup Rhei i ounce. 

Fl. Ex. Wahoo I dram. 

Fl. Ex. Apocynum Cann 2 drams. 

Tinct. Echinacea 1 dram. 

Cascaro Aromat 3 drams. 

Simple Sirup to make 4 ounces. 

Dose: Teaspoonful night and morning. 



448 FEMINOLOGY. 

IJ Fl. Ex. Arelia Hispida 3 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Phytolacca 3 drams. 

Simple Sirup to make 4 ounces. 

Dose : Teaspoonful 4 times daily. 

Continued pressure over the growth is beneficial. An 
appliance like the accompanying cut may be had from the 
Natural Body Brace Co., Salina, Kansas, which in almost 
any displacement or dropsical condition will bring comfort 
and ease, and assist in a return to health. 

Dropsy of the womb is induced by closure of the mouth 
of that organ, from some cause or other. The lining of the 
uterus secretes a serous fluid which keeps its surface moist; 
when not allowed to escape into the vagina it must accumu-' 
late, causing dropsy. A tumor in the cervix may be one of 
the obstructions. 

The symptoms are those of pregnancy, no suspicion 
arising to the contrary until the period of quickening arrives. 

To overcome uterine dropsy there must be most careful 
adherence to hygienic life. Vapor baths cannot be too 
highly recommended ; free action of the skin largely assists 
to relieve the body of excessive fluid. It is important to 
know the cause of the trouble. If a tumor exists it must 
be removed. The food taken should be most largely com- 
posed of solids, and without spices, pepper, etc. 

Neuralgia may occur in the reproductive system as in 
other parts of the body. The pain is always intense, vary- 
ing from the endurable pain to that which is agonizing. 
The cause of neuralgia is not well known, but is generally 
thought to exist chiefly where the vital powers are lowered ; 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 449 

where the nerves are weakened and exhausted. Women 
whose cares are burdensome, who know no rest from the 
sexual demands of husbands, are, in addition, common 
martyrs to some form of neuralgia. 

Neuralgia of the ovaries or uterus may result from 
exposure to cold or damp. Laundry work during the 
menses, especially during cold weather, is a frequent cause, 
particularly so if these organs are in an unhealthy state. 

Relief is best afforded by heat. A hot bath with 
ammonia dashed into the water; or a vapor bath, followed 
by friction of the surface of the body, should be resorted 
to. The patient then should go to bed and be warmly cov- 
ered, with hot applications to the feet and over the abdomen. 
Sleep will follow, and the patient is refreshed, if not cured 
at once of the attack. Medicines to allay the pain should 
not be resorted to; they are of such character that the sys- 
tem afterward needs to eliminate them as obnoxious matter, 
in doing which other disorders are induced. Hot applica- 
tions as above obviate any after difficulty. One-half grain 
of aloin, in capsule or pill, should be administered at once, 
to be followed by five grains of sorbilin given every half 
hour until relieved. 

Displacements of the organs of generation are very fre- 
quent forms of suffering. The womb may be tilted against 
the rectum, or forward on the bladder; or it is liable to be 
bent upon itself in various directions, while the neck remains 
in nearly normal position. Again, the organ descends into 
the vagina, sometimes as low as the external opening, or 

even outside the body. 
29 



450 FEMIN0L0GY. 

Each form of uterine displacement has a term indicating 
it; as retroversion when falling against the rectum; ante- 
version against the bladder ; flexures when bent upon itself ; 
and prolapsus when descending into the vagina. 

Prolapsus is the most common form of displacement, 
the causes for which are numerous. Anything that tends 




Falling of the Womb. 

to debilitate the system may induce it by relaxation of the 
abdominal muscles. The abdominal viscera is thus allowed 
to press upon the pelvic viscera and supporting tissues, 
which in time yield. The vagina is one of the supports 
of the uterus, and the relaxation of its walls is always 
sufficient to cause more or less prolapsus. Inflammation 
causes the uterus to be heavy, which, long continued, 
destroys the elasticity of the supporting ligaments, and 
the organ drops. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 451 

The corset becomes a hideous and wicked appliance when 
considered in connection with prolapsus. Through its con- 
tinued use the muscles of the trunk are weakened; and 
the intestines crowded upon the generative system, cause 
general disorder of that region. Too frequent child bearing 
is a potent cause of prolapsus ; also too early exercises after 
child birth, before the parts have reached the normal size. 
Instrumental delivery in parturition, and forcibly removing 
the placenta, will produce prolapsus unless extreme caution 
is used after the patient is about. 

A remarkable case of endurance was called to my atten- 
tion recently. The history of the patient is as follows : In 
giving birth to a child, twenty years ago, she was attended 
by a male physician, who, in an attempt to " hurry matters 
along," tore the womb from its supporting ligaments. On 
arising from her bed the womb not only slipped down 
between the thighs, but turned inside out as well, in which 
position it has since remained. Brutal strength has made her 
a lifelong cripple. Being poor, and now a widow, she is 
obliged to perform daily duties in this mutilated condition. 

The symptoms vary with the extent of the displace- 
ment. A constant dragging pain is felt in the small of the 
back and near the base of the spine, and in the groins, which 
is increased by being on the feet. Pressure upon the bladder 
and rectum may cause difficulty in those organs. A con- 
tinued relaxation of the abdominal walls with prolapsus 
induces displacements of bladder and rectum as well. Some- 
times the urine will pass from the body constantly. The 
nervous system partakes of the derangement, and the patient 
becomes melancholy and hysterical. 



452 FEMINOLOGY. 

To effect a cure a readjustment of the dress must be 
made in the first place. The corset must be put away for 
always ; the union undergarment assumed will provide equal 
warmth when of proper weight; the dress skirt must be 
supported from the shoulders; or, as Mrs. Jenness-Miller 
says, built upon a princess foundation; the bodice must 
not compress the trunk. An abdominal supporter, as before 
mentioned, should be worn to relieve the weight of the 
intestines. If the patient can make up her mind to it, she 
should forego wearing a petticoat, supplying its place by 
what is known as the equestrian tights. This gives a free- 
dom of movement which is delightful. Many women will 
testify to the benefits of the change of wearing apparel as 
above, in curing female weakness and keeping cured. 

The tepid sitz bath used several times weekly will be 
valuable, to be followed by gentle kneading of the abdom- 
inal muscles. A vaginal injection of hot water should be 
used several times daily. An exercise valuable in prolapsus 
is as follows : — 




Knee Chest Position. 

(To Correct Displacements.) 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 



453 



Kneel face downward; gradually raise the hips until 
the whole weight rests upon the shoulders. Remain in 
this position five minutes. When resorted to four or five 
times daily, this exercise aids greatly to restoration of health. 
In all cases, the system must be invigorated generally; the 
most nourishing food used, with plenty of fresh air to 
invigorate, and cheerful surroundings. 




Retroversion of the Womb. 

Tampons of cotton wool, saturated in a solution com- 
posed of eight parts glycerine, ten parts alum, and one 
part boracic acid, should be inserted into the vagina, and 
passed well up against the uterus. This affords a grateful 
support to the womb; it may be placed when in the kneel- 
ing position, above mentioned, just before retiring. 

Retroversion and ant aversion are treated the same as pro- 



454 FEMINOLOGY. 

lapsus, after the organ has been returned to its normal posi- 
tion. If a woman have a reasonable degree of self-confidence, 
and the displacement be not of too long standing, she can 
cure herself, by attention to hygienic measures. First, the 
pressure from above must be removed, by doing away with 
the corset and skirt weights over the abdomen; then a 
common-sense support procured to lift the intestines from 
the pelvic viscera (see cut, page 447.) The muscles sup- 
porting the lower abdomen must be kneaded and exercised 
to strengthen them. It may take some time, but persistency 
will conquer; the recuperative powers of nature are great, 
when given intelligent assistance. 

The physician's mode of restoring the womb to normal 
position in retroversion is described as follows : " This may 
sometimes be done by passing two fingers up the vagina, 
and pressing between the cervix and rectum, at the same 
time, drawing down the uterus with some instrument like 
the blade of a forceps. 

" Another plan is to pass a uterine sound into the uterus, 
so as to look forward to the bladder." 

In anteversion, " the patient should lie on her back, 
with her hips considerably elevated when the uterine sound 
is to be used, as in the last form of displacement." 

Or, in retroversion, the patient may herself return the 
organ to position by the geno-pectoral position described 
for returning the prolapsed uterus to position. 

In anteversion, the patient may restore the womb to 
position by resting the head and hands on the floor, with 
the thighs and legs on the bed, while the assistant (or 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 455 

herself) gently kneads the uterine region of the abdomen. 
In this position, the intestines are drawn toward the dia- 
phragm, and the pelvis somewhat emptied; while the uterus, 
being pressed upon, assumes the natural position. 

This method, together with hot- water injections, and 
the insertion of a uterine pastil of an antiseptic and astrin- 




ANTE VERSION OF THE WOMB. 

gent nature just before retiring, will correct any form of 
uterine displacement. Women may save themselves years 
of misery and mistreatment, by pursuing this simple course 
of home treatment. A cure will come about so gradually 
that the patient will find herself performing duties that a 
year previous would have been impossible. 

Any overexertion must thereafter be avoided, or the 
displacement may recur. The woman owes it to herself 
and especially to her family to keep as well as possible. 



456 FEMINOLOGY. 

Dr. Mary R. Melenday says the patient should have 
" frequent cheerful company, live much out of doors, work 
in the garden, do any and all kinds of light work, in or 
out of the house. Keep away from gloomy, despondent 
people, and from all disagreeable, depressing influences. 
Make use of deep, abdominal breathing, while standing 
or lying. Train the mind to look on the bright side of 
things, read cheerful books, and live in an atmosphere of 
music and sunshine. Bathe and massage the body fre- 
quently; that it should tie done daily is almost an absolute 
necessity. Eat wholesome, digestible food in small quan- 
tities." 

Dr. Stockham says, " The connection of mind and 
thought with pelvic disorders is close, and is susceptible of 
becoming permanently fixed upon any organ. The effect 
is highly injurious. It must result in increasing this kind 
of morbid action, thus fixing and perpetuating the disease. 
This should be carefully guarded against. In every way 
divert her mind from the subject. Let her but forget 
that she has a womb, and she will have found the best remedy 
for her affection/' 

Flexures of the womb are caused by weakness of the 
organ itself, as distinguished from the versions, which come 
from weakness of the muscular supports. Vitiating influ- 
ences weakening to the system cause the muscular fibers 
of the uterus to lose tone; and, in the flaccid, inelastic 
state, the organ bends upon itself, without power to recover 
the normal position. 

Of this form of displacement, Dr. Joseph Greer says, 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 457 

" The symptoms are very much the same as in other dis- 
placements, and the treatment also similar. As a rule, the 
exact form of flexure and its extent cannot be ascertained 
without the use of the uterine sound; and that instrument 
is usually necessary to correct the difficulty. Sometimes 
the flexure is trifling and temporary, but nearly all cases 




Retroflexion of the Womb. 

of long-standing or pronounced flexure will require skillful 
adjustment." 

It frequently happens that in cases of retroversion and 
retroflexion, pressure of the uterus on the bowel causes 
constipation and then piles, the mucous lining of the rectum 
becoming greatly inflamed, and causing excrutiating pain 
at each evacuation. Nothing can be found to give greater 



458 FEMINOLOGY. 

relief than the following: After cleansing the colon with 
a warm-water injection, take of — 

R Nonalcoholic Calendula 2 ounces. 

Nonalcoholic Hydrastis 1J/2 ounces. 

Tincture Lobelia y 2 ounce. 

Essence Peppermint 10 drops. 

Mix. 

Put four tablespoonfuls in half a cup of water, and with 
a hard-rubber syringe, inject into the rectum. This should 
be done once daily. 

As an ointment : — 

R Vaseline 1 ounce. 

Sulphate of Hydrastia 4 grains. 

Menthol 2 grains. 

Mix. 

Apply night and morning and after each evacuation, 
pressing back into the rectum the protruding membrane. 

Anteversion and anteflexion, through pressure of the 
uterus on the bladder, carry with them frequent and painful 
micturition (urination). A permanent cure, of course, 
can only be effected by correcting the displacement. But 
temporary relief may be obtained by sipping, at intervals, 
tea made from pulverized marshmallow root, — half an 
ounce of the root to a pint of scalding water. Uva ursi 
may also be used to advantage in the above condition, one 
half to one teaspoonful every one or two hours, until relief 
is obtained. 

Displacement of the ovaries may follow uterine dis- 
placements, owing to their intimate connection with that 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 459 

organ. The broad ligaments, enveloping both uterus and 
ovaries, in any malposition, draw all so enfolded. For 
instance, in pregnancy, the expansion of the womb carries 
the ovaries upward. Likewise, in chronic prolapsus or 
retroversion, the ovaries are drawn downward and back- 
ward, and cause a very troublesome disorder. 

All forms of disorder of the generative system reflect 
upon the nervous system, because of the abundant supply 
of nerves to that part of the body. The treatment, of 
course, must include strengthening the nervous system gen- 
erally, through recourse to nutrition, exercise, baths, rest, 
and common-sense dress. 

As a tonic, the following will be found excellent : — 

tf Populus Compound 3 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Dioscorea 2 drams. 

Elixir of Pepsin, to make 6 ounces. 

Dose : Teaspoonful, four times daily. 

Torpid liver is frequently an accompaniment of uterine 
and ovarian troubles, in which case the following is ad- 
vised : — 

^ Fl. Ex. Leptandra Vir 3 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Apocynum Andri 2 drams. 

Fl. Ex. Cascara Aromat 2 drains. 

Fl. Ex. Juglans 3 drams. 

Sirup Rhei, to make 4 ounces. 

Dose: Teaspoonful, night and morning. 

In case of nervousness and where a feeling of weight or 
bearing down is present in the pelvic region : — 



460 FEMINOLOGY. 

3J Aletris Cordial i ounce. 

Celerina i ounce. 

Simple Sirup, to make 4 ounces. 

Dose: Teaspoonful, four times daily. 

Ulcerations may affect the uterus, vagina, or external 
organs, but is most common to the mouth or lining of 
the uterus. This disorder is most frequent in women of 
scrofulous tendencies; a venereal taint will also tend to 
it. Irritation from excessive intercourse, or from any other 
cause producing inflammation, may develop the ulcers. What 
is known as the raspberry ulcer is the most common form. 
This appears like granulations on the eyelids, and is always 
preceded and accompanied by inflammation. The red and 
swollen surface becomes abraded, and the ulcers emit a 
thick, yellowish purulent discharge. As the disease pro- 
gresses, the discharge becomes thin and bloody, and of 
very offensive odor. There are sensations of heat and pain, 
as in inflammation. Habitual constipation increases the 
extent of the malady. 

Aside from the painful, debilitating effects, these ulcera- 
tions are apt to lead to cancerous affections; and in marital 
intercourse, the male organ is very liable to contract dis- 
ease from the discharging ulcers. As intercourse increases 
the difficulty, while a cure is being effected it must be 
refrained from. 

The general health must be improved. For local treat- 
ment, there should be repeated daily vaginal injections of 
tepid water, continued from ten to fifteen minutes at a 
time. This cleanses away the offensive matter, facilitating 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 461 

the healing process; after which, a pledget of cotton satu- 
rated with fluid Hydrastis and tincture Echinacea should 
be applied to the mouth of the womb. 

Leucorrhea, fluor albus, or " whites," is a discharge 
from the vagina or uterus, predisposed by nervous derange- 
ments and vascular impurities, and actively excited by 
exposure to cold, violent exercise, sexual excesses, or cohab- 
iting with an unloved husband, sedentary habits, or reten- 
tion of menstrual blood in the folds of the vagina. Local 
irritation from pessaries or from masturbation, produce 
the discharge; also, worms, and various forms of rectal 
troubles. It usually occurs between puberty and the meno- 
pause, yet has been known to occur in children, and women 
who have passed the change of life. 

There are two distinct forms of leucorrhea; one, the 
discharge comes from the cervix, or neck of the uterus, 
called cervical leucorrhea; the other, the discharge comes 
from the membrane of the vagina, and is called vaginal leu- 
corrhea. 

When from the cervix, the discharge is a clear, trans- 
parent mucus, which becomes coagulated by the acid secre- 
tion of the vagina, and somewhat resembles curdled milk. 
If from the internal surface of the womb, it is thick, resem- 
bling the white of an egg. From the vagina, the discharge 
is thin and glairy, without much color or consistency. 

Dr. J. D. West says, " Since the uterus and vagina 
are covered with mucous membranes, which are subject 
to excessive exudation, there is nothing extraordinary or 
strange in the diseases called leucorrhea, nor in the variety 



462 FEMINOLOGY. 

of the discharge. Every person has observed similar varia- 
tions in the discharge from the mucous membrane lining 
the nose. In view of the debilitating effect of an excessive 
exudation from any mucous surface, it is not surprising 
to find it intensified in the uterine organs ; because in them 
we have the additional debility induced by the monthly 
excitement and congestion of the ovaries and uterus in the 
menstrual discharge." 

The color of the discharges varies as the disease con- 
tinues, from colorless and white to dark and greenish yel- 
low; and is sometimes so acrid as to produce intense 
inflammation and itching of the external genitals. 

Patients affected with chronic leucorrhea, besides the 
suffering from ache and dragging-down sensations in back 
and abdomen, are apt to become dyspeptic. They are sensi- 
tive to cold, and become apathetic and melancholy. The 
structures become so weakened through the discharge that 
prolapsus ensues. Leucorrhea, in many instances, accom- 
panies uterine displacements, and the hygienic measures 
adopted to overcome the womb trouble, also conquers 
leucorrhea. It is necessary to ascertain the cause of the dis- 
order, and remove it, before a cure can be effected. In acute 
cases, the patient should be confined in bed, which may be 
from a week to ten days. The tepid sitz bath, followed by 
friction over the back and lower abdomen, is one of the 
main reliances for cure. Vaginal injections of hot water 
containing a teaspoonful of boracic acid should be used 
several times daily. 

As with excessive membranous exudation in other 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 463 

parts of the body, leucorrhea is very exhausting to the 
patient, and should be overcome as soon as may be. Tonic 
treatment, recommended in displacement of the ovaries, will 
be of great benefit in this affection, together with local 
application of the uterine pastil. 

Tumors of the body are of many varieties, and may 
be of either malignant or benign character. When there 
is no tendency to ulceration and to poisonous particles being 
carried through the blood, they receive the latter desig- 
nation; when the opposite is true, they are malignant. 

A dropsical enlargement in the ovaries is known as 
cystic tumor; and fibroids sometimes form in those organs. 

Tumors in the uterus are usually -fibrous or polypous; 
the cause inducing them not being clearly known. 

The fibrous tumors are formed in the uterine walls, 
and often develop to an enormous size. In many instances, 
the health is not greatly impaired, and the tumor may cease 
to develop, after having reached a certain size. Again, 
it may cause serious derangement of the system and exhaust- 
ing hemorrhages, necessitating its removal by surgery. 

The polypous tumor is attached to the uterus by a slender 
stalk or pedicle, and varies in size from a pea or a marble 
to that of a cantaloupe. It is supplied with blood vessels 
that permit of its growth. 

Ordinarily, the symptoms of the growth of uterine 
tumor are those of pregnancy. The menses are suppressed 
or become irregular, breasts and abdomen enlarge, and 
there is nausea and bearing-down pains. In the advanced 
state, there is a discharge of mucus, pus, and blood, which 



464 FEMINOLOGY. 

is followed by hemorrhage. Sometimes the polypous 
growth will close the mouth of the womb, and menstrual 
fluid accumulates and undergoes decomposition, causing 
serious disorder to the system. Or the tumor may descend 
into the vagina, and drag the walls of the uterus with it. 

A polypus is more easily removed by surgery than a 
fibroid; and surgical means is the only certain way of 
ridding the patient of such growth. Special attention should 
be given the general health, to fortify the strength for the 
surgery. Uterine tumors seldom appear before the age of 
thirty, or after the menopause. 

Cancer is a dread disease affecting various parts of the 
body. The predisposition may come from heredity or 
any impure taint of the blood. The exciting causes of 
uterine cancer may be abortions, masturbation, excessive 
intercourse, or any kind of injury or violence affecting 
the uterine region. 

Any woman among whose ancestry cancer has existed 
must observe the strictest rules of health. Or where there 
is any suspicion of possible development, the same precau- 
tions must be used. 

Says Cowan, " There is only one possible cure of this 
disease — the strictest hygienic diet, the purest, most invig- 
orating life, and a course of the most active purification 
by judicious use of baths, air, light, exercise, drinks, food, 
etc. By the adoption of this course in the early stages, 
a cure is possible, and at any stage it is the only hope." 

There are two stages of uterine cancer — the hardening 
and the ulcerating stages. It is almost impossible to recog- 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 465 

nize in the first stage. There may be the early signs of 
pregnancy, pains in the breasts, itching in the genitals, 
and strong sexual desires. 

The cancerous growth is usually on the cervix, though 
sometimes in the cavity of the womb. It can be felt as a 
knotted, irregular mass on the cervix; when situated in 
the cavity, the mouth will be found dilated. The first 
stage may cover a period of several years. A successful 
pregnancy has been recorded as existing when a cancer 
was in the first stage. It is not sensitive to pressure, nor 
painful. 

When the softening, ulcerating stage commences, the 
character changes. The pain is severe, darting, and burn- 
ing, though not constant until later development. An 
offensive discharge sets in, and hemorrhages are of fre- 
quent occurrence. When the malady gets beyond control, 
death comes as a happy release. 

What is known as cauliflower excrescence is sometimes 
mistaken for cancer. The most distinctive symptom of 
the excrescence is a profuse watery discharge, which, after 
a while, is streaked with blood, and finally changes to pro- 
fuse flooding. The treatment is the same hygienic means 
as mentioned for cancer. A local application, equal parts 
of the oil of Cajeput and oil of Erigeron, will cause absorp- 
tion in the early stages of this affection. 

Moles, or false conceptions, sometimes occur. Natural 
pregnancy is arrested, and the fetus changes to an irregu- 
lar mass. It is not apt to go beyond the third month, 
though it may run the full period. It cannot be known 
30 



466 FEMINOLOGY. 

exactly, until after quickening should occur. There is dan- 
ger from hemorrhage when the expulsion comes. 

Hydatids are small sacs filled with liquid, that some- 
times develop in pregnancy. These sacs usually attain a 
great size, and destroy the fetal growth, and are expelled 
between the fifth and eighth months. Sometimes, how- 
ever, the sacs burst, discharging a straw-colored liquid, 
and the fetal growth remains to develop. Or they may 
remain in the uterus for years. No cause for these growths 
is assigned. 

The external genitals are subject to inflammation and 
other disorders, usually from acrid discharges, venereal 
disease, excessive intercourse, masturbation, etc. The parts 
become sensitive and swollen, and a discharge begins, which 
in itself is irritating. 

Such conditions do not occur where there is daily use 
of cleansing vaginal injections. When inflammation does 
occur, cleanliness is indispensable in overcoming it. The 
parts may be bathed with warm water and witch-hazel 
extract. 

A tormenting itching -irritation of the vulva, known 
as pruritis, attends inflammation. Or it may be caused 
by uterine, rectal, and bladder disease; and it sometimes 
exists during pregnancy. What is aggravating about 
pruritis is that scratching in no way relieves the irritation. 
Sometimes the disorder is so great as to develop an abnor- 
mal, erotic sexual passion, called nymphomania. This itch- 
ing can be relieved at once by warm water and baking 
soda applied to the genitals. 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 467 

Whatever is the cause, it must be removed. The bowels 
should be kept freely active, and vaginal injections used, 
as often as the irritation unduly annoys. 

Dropsy sometimes affects the vulva, in which case, 
increased action of the kidneys and perspiratory glands 
should be encouraged. Soda-and-water applications will 
give relief. 

Nymphomania is a most unfortunate malady, generated 
by local irritation of the vulva, and developed in the brain 
by amatory excitement which robs other organs of the brain 
of nervous force. Explaining this disorder, Dr. Foote says, 
" One or more organs may become abnormally excited, at 
the expense of inactivity to the rest, so that a person will 
be fanatical on some one subject, and think and talk of 
little else. In consequence, we often meet with crazy poets, 
fanatical religionists, mad politicians, etc. If the reason- 
ing and moral faculties are robbed to supply amatory 
excess, a woman who may have previously sustained a 
spotless character for modesty and reserve, will exhibit 
uncontrollable emotions in the presence of men, or a dis- 
position to indulge to excess in venereal pleasures. It is 
a species of monomania, and as such should shield its 
victim from uncharitable aspersions." 

Women should know the dreadful, embarrassing devel- 
opment of this disorder, and never allow it to get beyond 
the control of the mind. In treating it, the blood should 
be purified of irritating humors, by vapor and hot-air 
baths. The bowels must be kept cleansed by frequent 
copious injections. The patient's diet must be unstimu- 



46S FEMINOLOGY. 

lating. When the local irritation occurs, cold water should 
be applied, and the parts must not be manipulated. 

The difficulty must be overcome or the patient will 
soon exhaust mental and bodily strength in attempts at 
amorous gratification. 

The disorder is due, in a large majority of cases, to 
the hood of the clitoris becoming adherent to that organ, 
causing a constant nerve pressure. Aching of the ovaries 
(which the patients are too often advised is due to disease 
of the ovary, and can only be cured by removal of that 
organ), epileptic fits, and other reflex conditions, with nym- 
phomania, have been entirely overcome by dissecting the 
attached hood from the clitoris. A woman who had under- 
gone five operations, came to me for treatment. Within 
the radius of that small spot (the clitoris) and within full 
view of the many she had employed, had they chanced 
to look, lay the cause of her years of misery, which a five- 
minute operation sufficed to correct. 

Hysteria is a nervous affection, commonly (though 
incorrectly) believed to be exclusively a woman's disorder 
due to uterine disturbance. The afflicted one seems to be 
possessed of a power beyond herself, which she thinks she 
cannot control. 

The symptoms of the disorder are so numerous and 
so varied, it is not an easy matter, always, to diagnose it 
correctly. The depressing influence of almost any disease 
which leaves the body weak and the nerves sensitive, may 
pave the way to hysteria. The predisposing causes may 
lie in heredity, want of occupation, temperament, etc. ; and 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 469 

the malady developed by disease, fright, loss of sleep, phys- 
ical exhaustion, pregnancy, deranged menstruation, the 
menopause, establishment of puberty, sexual excesses; in 
fact, anything exhausting to nervous force. 

As with other maladies, this one of the mind and brain 
may be acute or chronic ; or paroxysmal and continuous. 

The transient, or acute, attacks may come in the form 
of uncontrollable laughter or tears, or immoderate talking, 
or fainting or convulsions, and are generally preceded and 
accompanied by the sensation of a lump in the throat, and 
an excessive flow of colorless urine. 

By knowing where the symptoms tend, a patient can 
forestall an attack. If she has been continuously laboring 
with brain or body, and the lump rises in her throat, it 
should be the signal to relax the strain and change the 
current of thought to an easier and entirely different chan- 
nel. Rest and a pleasant book or periodical may help the 
victim of physical overexertion; or else a ride in the open 
air through pleasing thoroughfares. She whose work is 
sedentary should change to a walk in the open air on 
some errand or call. She who has been continuously 
" doing nothing " should seek to ignore, for a time, per- 
sonal pleasures, and try to enrich the life of some one over- 
burdened with cares. 

In the cases of unmarried women, disappointment in 
affairs of the heart sometimes develop the phenomenon of 
hysteria. There may be apparent palpitation of the heart, 
exaggerated cough, or severe pains in various portions of 
the body. The patient resents very strongly the assertion 



470 FEMIX0L0GY. 

tbat the disturbance is of nervous origin, rather than organic 
disease. 

Such women should rally their powers of mind, remem- 
bering, though the love of some one man might not have 
proved successful, there are many other good and useful 
and happy phases of life; that marriage, though it should 
be the best state, rarely reaches any near degree to the 
ideal; that it really and truly does show weakness of mind 
to yield to the bufferings of fate. 

In assisting such a patient to overcome morbid hys- 
terical tendencies, the combative spirit must be avoided, or 
she will cling more tenaciously to the mental hallucination- 
She must be persistently diverted from unhealthy thoughts. 
in a cheerful and decided manner. 

There are phases of hysteria where the patient appears 
to have lost the power of speech or of motion or of feeling. 
Again, she may complain of extreme sensitiveness all over 
the body, or of certain parts of the body, with numbness 
through the remaining portions. 

Dr. West says. '* Simple hysteria is easily detected. 
For any trivial cause that should no more than cause a 
smile,, hysterical women laugh immoderately, and not infre- 
quently end in sobbing and crying. During a play in which 
several persons are engaged, any unusual or general merri- 
ment will throw a girl into immoderate and irrepressible 
fits of laughter, soon to be followed by long and deep sighs, 
which are efforts to gain breath. The fits of laughter may 
be alternated with fits of crying, as if in terrible distress. 
If these fits of crying and laughing be not immediately 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 471 

arrested by an extraneous effort on her part, or her mind 
be not diverted from whatever excited her, the fits 
become stronger, and are frequently followed by a bolus 
or ball coming up in her throat, choking her until she gasps 
for breath. She may become partially convulsed, throwing 
her limbs, or grasping at anything within her reach, and 
pressing her fingers into it with unusual force ; or she may 
spread out her fingers as though they were sticks. She may 
have an intermission and relaxation for a moment, only to 
be followed by a return of the paroxysm. These remissions 
are employed in wailings and moanings, and relations of 
her abandoned condition. Every person is against her; 
no one loves her; and she refuses to be comforted. She 
tells strange things and reveals her secrets, no matter 
whether they expose herself or injure her friends. There 
is no certainty how long this condition may continue. It 
may subside in a few minutes; it may last for hours, or 
even days." 

Any self-contained person not disagreeable to the suf- 
ferer, can conquer such an attack by quiet, decisive means, 
if not too procrastinating. Upon noticing the immoderate 
laughter or tears, the person should quietly procure a glass 
of water and some smelling salts or ammonia. Presenting 
the water, with the remark, " My dear, after such an effort 
you must be exhausted. Drink this; and inhale this," the 
mental equilibrium may be restored at once. 

Should the attack occur at home, in addition to the 
above, a hot footbath or full hot bath with applications of 
cool water to the head, are beneficial restoratives. 



472 FEMINOLOGY. 

Some instances of chronic hysteria may be related, to 
illustrate its phases: — 

A lady, believing herself to be pregnant, had what 
seemed to her unmistakable symptoms of that condition. 
Her husband consulted with the family physician regarding 
her condition. Upon examination, the physician diagnosed 
a case of hysteria; but as the patient was so anxious for 
an heir, he did not enlighten her as to his opinion, believing 
when the expected time for delivery came, she would be 
cured. When the time arrived, the nurses and physician 
were summoned. The lady had severe pains, but did not 
bring forth, and was accordingly disappointed. But she 
never afterward had another attack of hysteria. 

There is the case of a lady who has been unable to 
do any kind of work for years, under the belief that some 
unknown malady exists. By persistently refusing to exert 
herself, of course the physical powers waned. Many phy- 
sicians had been consulted, none of whom could find any 
trace of disease. Her appetite is enormous, demanding 
the best the market affords for herself, while her family 
is served with the plainest fare. Her conscious self-indul- 
gence, regardless of every one's else comfort, has made her 
obnoxious to those who would otherwise be friends. 

Another similar case is of a young lady, whose sup- 
posed maladies had not succumbed to the best treatment 
of many physicians. Her brother, the support of the family, 
at last realized the case, and laid a plan to overcome it. 
The family consisted of himself, mother, and sister. Con- 
sulting with a married sister, it was decided that the mother 



DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 473 

should come to live with her, and the brother abandon 
the housekeeping, in order to arouse the sister suffering 
from hysteria. The brother found rooms for her and him- 
self; found a position for her as an experiment, and at 
last told her that she must make an effort to do for herself, 
that he was about to study a profession which would use 
up his means. She protested that if she attempted it, she 
would be dead inside of two weeks, and he would be the 
cause of her death. But firmness won, and the young 
lady assumed the position. At the close of the two weeks, 
she had come to be interested, and at the end of a year, 
was well. She held the position for ten years, and then 
married and developed into a healthy, happy matron of rare 
common sense. 

A young lady, by dream or impression, decided her 
death would occur at a certain hour on a certain day. 
Before the time arrived, she sent word she would like to 
see her physician before departing this life. Surrounded 
by her weeping friends and incredulous doctor, she bade 
them good-by, turned her face to the wall — and kept on 
living. In a few days, she was about her usual duties. 

There are cases recorded where such impressions really 
do cause death, showing how powerful is the action of 
the mind over the functions of the body. But, as in the 
cases of those religionists who prepared for the end of the 
world, the mind is not always strong enough to overcome 
the forces of nature, though belief is strong. 

Hysteria occurs in women and men, in the proportion 
of 20 to 1 ; while hypochondria, another nervous derange- 



474 FEMINOLOGY. 

ment affecting the mind, occurs more frequently in men, 
although not in such proportion. 

In. all cases of hysteria that have come under my obser- 
vation, I have found some grave functional disorder to be 
the underlying cause of the mental symptoms. Correct 
the functional derangement, put the patient on a nourishing 
diet, change her habits of life, and the result will speak 
for itself. 

The treatment for hysteria must consist in attention 
to the general health, strengthening the nervous system, 
and giving special regard to such symptoms as may develop 
distinctively ; as disordered menstruation, unfolding puberty, 
the change of life, etc. Medication is of little value; good 
exercise in the open air is invaluable; while better yet is 
the institution of a trend of thought that calls forth highest 
impulses of the mind, forgetting entirely the melancholy, 
distressing, and impure. 

" To be able to forget a thought which is injuring us, 
is a most important means for gaining strength of body 
and clearness of mind." 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE MENOPAUSE. 

When the function of reproduction is at an end, phys- 
ical changes take place as marked as those at puberty when 
the power was establishing. The change is known as the 
menopause, the climacteric, or the change of life. 

At puberty the organs of generation enlarge and the 
process of ovulation begins. At the menopause, ovulation 
ceases and they diminish. The ovaries become small and 
shriveled, resembling a peach stone in shape and appear- 
ance; the uterus becomes contracted, the mouth entirely 
closing after a time; the vagina diminishes in size as do 
the breasts. It is just as natural for the menstrual flow 
to cease as to begin, and in a state of health, should be no 
cause for worry. 

There is much suffering among women at this period, 
to be sure. But it has been where women did not under- 
stand how to fortify the system for the change, in order 
to pass it with undiminished health. The girl who has 
been properly clothed, nourished, and instructed as to the 
laws of health prior to puberty, experiences no ill health 
when she reaches it. So she who has not run counter to 
the laws of life during mature womanhood should pass 
the climacteric without suffering. 

There is even hope for those who have been sufferers 

475 



476 FEMINOLOGY. 

from derangement of the generative system, that, should 
the menopause be safely passed, the evening of life may 
be experienced in the enjoyment of good health. 

The menses occur about thirteen times a year for a 
period averaging thirty-two years save for the interrup- 
tion of gestation and sometimes lactation. In Fowler's 
" Sexual Science," he admonishes women who wish to 
preserve health and beauty through life, to bear children 
often, after marriage, merely allowing the menses to 
become established after one child is weaned, until another 
is generated. So that the menses might not recur a dozen 
times, supposing the marriage happened at the age of 
twenty-three, until the menopause. Theoretically, Mr. 
Fowler might be correct, seeing that he recommends the 
wife to be the umpire of the marriage relation, and that 
intercourse be suspended during pregnancy and for the 
most part during nursing. But men have not learned self- 
control, and in addition to making their wives bear. children, 
they have demanded indulgence for their animal instinct, 
until women are wrecked in body and nervous force before 
the change of life is reached. Until proper conditions 
exist for rearing children after they have been generated 
and born, it will be best not to follow the recommendations 
of " Sexual Science," on this line. Life so rarely is a 
boon to those on whom it is thrust that it is but just to 
consider children's rights as superior to " husbands' rights." 

The time of the cessation of the menses is as varied 
as the beginning. It may be brought on prematurely. It 
is recorded that in a woman of twenty-eight the flow had 



THE MENOPAUSE. 477 

disappeared; while in others it has continued regularly 
until sixty. But usually the first indications may be 
expected between forty and forty-five. In proportion as 
the menses have been normal in quantity and regular in 
their return, especially in the ten years prior to the meno- 
pause, may the change be expected with little inconvenience. 
Vice versa, if the health has been poor, the menses deranged, 
the change may indeed be expected to be a critical time. 

As the time approaches, the constitution should be pre- 
pared for it. Women should certainly be ready to see the 
beauties of hygienic life at the ripe age of forty, and gladly 
forego the frivolities of fashion as well as to allow them- 
selves respite from incessant hard work. She must keep 
in mind the four ways nature has devised for removing 
obstructions from the body, and keep these ways free for 
their proper functions. These are the lungs, the skin, the 
kidneys, and the alimentary canal. 

At every round of the circulation, the blood goes to 
the lungs to be purified. It is said that all the blood in 
the body passes to the lungs about eighteen times per hour. 
The deeper the inhalation of breath, the more extensive 
the purification and vitalization of the blood. It does not 
take many minutes to cause death, when the supply of 
air is suddenly cut off altogether. Is it not then a clear 
proposition that action of the air cells should always be 
encouraged rather than hindered? The woman entering 
the climacteric period should make it a practice to breathe 
deeply, seeing to it that no function of the body is ham- 
pered by clothing. 



478 FEMINOLOGY. 

The skin does for the blood in the capillaries of the 
body what the lungs do for the blood in the air cells. " It 
not only rids the blood of carbon and supplies it with oxy- 
gen, but regulates its density by evaporating the watery 
constituents. The skin is the great drying, draining, and 
evaporating apparatus of the body; it is in itself a uni- 
versally expanded lung, kidney, liver, heart, and bowels; 
and the greatest medium of nervous and vascular expan- 
sion, therefore the seat of thrilling sensibilities and exqui- 
site tactile endowment/ ' 

It is necessary at the crisis of the menopause that 
activity of the skin should be encouraged by daily baths. 
The full hot bath is best where there is any tendency to 
inflammation or hemorrhages. Fleshy women can freely 
use the hot bath; while thin women should use it no less 
than twice a week, afterward rubbing the whole body with 
olive oil or cream. This encourages and assists nutrition. 
In attacks of hemorrhage, the full hot bath will relieve, 
when other means fail. 

In the circulation of the blood through the body, not 
only new material is carried to the parts that need it, 
but the worn-out tissues are collected and carried to the 
eliminating organs. All waste fluids that do not escape 
through the lungs, the skin, or the bowels, are taken from 
the blood by the kidneys. If breathing is imperfect, the 
skin unwashed, or the bowels constipated, the kidneys are 
overtaxed. They eliminate all the impurities possible for 
them, and by overdoing gradually lose some of their power. 
Hence the development of kidney disorders. What waste 



THE MENOPAUSE. 479 

and worn-out matter remains in the blood develops vas- 
cular impurity, which must encourage disease. 

In order to facilitate healthy action of the kidneys in 
separating waste from the blood, in addition to deep breath- 
ing, and daily bathing, it is recommended that at least 
three quarts of pure water be drunk between meals, in 
the twenty-four hours. 

Ladies approaching the menopause should institute the 
habit of keeping the colon well cleansed with copious ene- 
mas. These should be used not less frequently than each 
alternate night before retiring. First the enema should 
cleanse away the fecal accumulation; then inject three or 
four quarts a second or third time, until the water when 
expelled is nearly clear. Then inject as much as a pint 
of clear water, allowing it to remain. It will be absorbed 
and encourage action of the kidneys. 

Where there are gaseous disturbances in the bowels, 
the use of baking soda or borax in the enema will over- 
come the same. 

Many people assert that before syringes were invented, 
people were far healthier, and attribute the decline of gen- 
eral health to this good and useful article. As well say 
that people were better off before there were any wash 
basins or bathtubs. Rather look to the general departure 
from simple diet and dress, and to the prevalent nerve- 
destroying intemperance on all lines. It is the desire 
herein to encourage a return to the simple mode of life, 
with the added light afforded by the study of this noblest 
work of God — the human body. As dirt, waste matter, 



4 8o FEMINOLOGY. 

is an enemy in the domain of the housewife, so it is to 
the system of the body. 

In the case of a small, thin woman, of course, there 
is not so much waste to be thrown out as in the large, 
heavy woman. There is not so much for a small family 
in a small house, as a large family in a small house, or a 
large family in a large house. Consequently, if the small, 
thin woman uses the same cleansing process as a large, 
heavy woman should, she might, probably would, exhaust 
herself. 

Vaginal injections should be used daily, to keep the 
parts as free as possible from the irritating secretions that 
sometimes arise during the change of life. Especially after 
a menstrual discharge, should there be a full enema. 

During the time this change is establishing, there should 
be little or no sexual intercourse; preferably none, because 
congestion and inflammation is thereby invited. 

As long as possible, menstruation should be encouraged. 
It is a safeguard against the formation of tumors and 
cancers, and inflammation or congestion. 

As to diet, all food and drink of a heating or stimu- 
lating nature should not be used ; neither spices, pepper, 
nor too much salt; pies, cakes, puddings, should be spar- 
ingly eaten; meat should not be used oftener than once 
a week, as a change from the vegetable diet, unless it be 
fish or white flesh. Pork should never be used. 

Observing the rules of health, as above, before the 
change of life begins, the adjustment of the system is so 
gradual the general functions are not disturbed by the 



THE MENOPAUSE. 



481 



change. The menstrual periods become farther apart, the 
amount of the discharge lessens and gradually fails to 
appear. 

Where hygienic measures are not used, there are many 
symptoms and forms of suffering to one entering the period 
of the menopause. The full-blooded woman is troubled 
by rush of blood to the head, nosebleed, uterine or other 
hemorrhages. The thin-blooded woman suffers from mal- 

1 




Uterine and Utero-Ovarian Veins. 

1, Uterus seen from the front, its right half covered by the peritoneum ; 6, /, and 9, 
utero-ovarian vessels; 8,8, 8, veins from the Fallopian tube ; 10, uterine vein; n, uterine 
artery. 

nutrition, weak pulse, and other indications of debility. 
One who is nervous wears an overanxious look, and has 
tendencies to hysteria. 

Irregularity in the menstrual -flow is among the earliest 
indications of the change. 

" There may be occasional absence of the menses, or 
it may first be indicated by frequent and profuse menstrua- 
tion. In rare cases, the menses cease suddenly, without 
any warning or any special derangement. Women often 
feel alarmed at the sudden suspension of this discharge, 
3* 



482 FEMINOLOGY. 

but their fears are groundless, if all other functions are 
normal. With some women the flow is alternately scanty 
and profuse, for months. 

" The length of time in which these symptoms occur 
is extremely variable. It may be only a few months, or 
it may be several years. In extreme cases, the symptoms 
have continued nearly twenty years. The average period, 
however, is three years." 

A fitful, capricious appetite often exists during the 
menopause, as during pregnancy. The patient should 
never be ridiculed on account of it. She should be catered 
to, while at the same time her family should see she is pro- 
vided with some of the good books which treat on the 
change of life, that she may within herself reason on the 
subject of hygiene. Very few women willingly prefer to 
be whimsical and crochety at this period. Mental aid is 
always best to overcome such state. 

The perverted appetite will lead to liver and stomach 
derangements, which but add to the trying afflictions of 
the change. 

Hot Hashes often pass over the body. There is a glow 
of heat as if one had entered a hot room, which is fol- 
lowed by profuse perspiration, and possibly chill. These 
occur any time of the day or night, with varying frequency, 
and will certainly follow the drinking of tea, coffee, or wine. 

Chavasse says, " These flushings might be looked upon 
as a rather favorable symptom, and as a struggle of nature 
to relieve herself through the skin." Sometimes nausea 
and vomiting accompany the flushing, followed by weak- 
ness and exhaustion. 



THE MENOPAUSE. 483 

Profuse perspiration is often annoying during the 
menopause. While it often follows the hot flashes, it 
occurs independent of them. At night it is sometimes so 
great as to saturate the bed clothing, and is exhausting 
to the sufferer. 

Neuralgia, headache with heat in the top of the head 
or at the base of the brain, dizziness, sore and swelled 
breasts, difficult breathing, insomnia, may be enumerated 
among the possible sufferings during this period. And 
as a woman's future health depends on the care bestowed 
upon her physical and mental well-being at this time, she 
should try by all means to avoid anything that would 
encourage ailments, and cultivate all that will invite health. 

Eruptions on the skin are not infrequent affections, 
which, like the perspiration and hot flashes, mean nature's 
efforts at casting out impurity, and trying to establish equi- 
librium. While the eruptions are not pleasant to bear nor 
to see, they should not be " dried up." The afflicted parts 
may be kept cool, and soothed by applications of soda and 
water, afterward dusting with rice flour. After they dis- 
appear, there will be no blemish left behind to mar the 
comeliness of the face. 

Bleeding piles sometimes afflict a lady at the change, 
especially if constipation is allowed. The constipation must 
be overcome by proper food, and frequent cleansing of the 
colon. Hot water injections to the rectum will arrest the 
bleeding. 

Uterine hemorrhage, which is common to this period, 
is the most serious symptom. Frequently this is due, not 
to the age of the patient, but to some local disorder of 



484 FEMINOLOGY. 

« 
the uterus, which may or may not be associated with the 
climacteric period. If allowed to recur without steps being 
taken to arrest it, health and life are very much endan- 
gered. Hot vaginal injections will control a hemorrhage, 
after which a lady must have care not to overexert her- 
self in any way. 

Tumors or cancers are of more frequent occurrence 
during the menopause than at any other time of life. Espe- 
cially is a patient liable to such, if the neck of the uterus ; 
has been injured in forced abortions, or by cauterization, 
and she has not taken time to care for her physical well- 
being on hygienic lines. 

Some women allow themselves to think they have not 
time for daily baths, injections, and a certain amount of 
rest. But calculation will prove that in the long run it 
is least expensive, in both time and money. Neglect broods 
disease, which enforces idleness together with pain, and 
the physician's fees more than overbalance what would be 
the worth of time consumed in caring for the body. Aside 
from deep breathing of pure air, cleansing away impurities 
is next in importance, followed by common-sense dress, 
wholesome food not too abundant, and exercise, recrea- 
tion, and rest. Very few, if any, of the pathological symp- 
toms of the menopause will follow a clean, pure life — 
certainly tumors and cancers cannot make their appearance. 

A worker for the enlightenment of the world has this 
to say of bathing : " Daily we ask the Infinite Mind to 
guide us, to give us wisdom, to give us pure thoughts and 
high motives for the deeds of the day. Properly enough, 



THE MENOPAUSE. 485 

in our petitions we regard our bodies as instruments through 
which the divine wisdom, love, and intelligence is to express 
itself. But do we so regard it when we allow the pores 
to become clogged with the dead tissues of yesterday, of 
which the body is trying to rid itself? Are we so regarding 
it, when we allow the other excretory organs to become 
inactive and the whole system loaded down with useless 
and poisonous matter which is intended to be cast out to 
make room for new life-giving food? Shall we continue 
to ask for such high force to be turned upon a useless instru- 
ment and to offer such a body to the Great Mechanic? 
Would an engineer think of wasting the precious electric 
fluid upon a clogged, rusted, dirty machine? No wonder 
when we intend to be loving, charitable, and patient, we 
are surprised to find ourselves giving vent to sharp words, 
hasty sarcasms, and ill-considered actions; such may be 
regarded as the creaking of a rusty hinge; the desire is 
there; the power is there; but the hinge works awkwardly, 
because it has not been regulated and cared for. 

" That the quality of our thoughts is governed by the 
condition of the body is a matter of daily experience. 
When we are begrimed with dust and smoke from with- 
out, and covered with sticky, impure exudations from 
within, we feel impatient, restless, tired. We are bur- 
dened with a sense of impurity and heaviness. . . . 

" Who can say how much of the crime, misery, and 
diseases of the race have been due to unclean bodies ? " 

Frequently, at the menopause there are excessive de- 
posits of fat, which is cumbersome to the system. A cer- 



486 FEMINOLOGY. 

tain amount of fat is needed for the smooth working of the 
forces of the body, but too much clogs it. Women who 
have been thin will become noticeably stout, and those to 
whom corpulence is hereditary become heavier. 

Remembering this among other things, a lady should 
take moderate exercise in the open air, with scant meals, 
and above all, not allow herself to think she must be cod- 
dled and give up active interest in affairs during some 
of the best years of her life. 

When there is any derangement of the stomach, it will 
be well to miss a meal in order to allow time for recupera- 
tion, as often as it occurs. 

Palpitation of the heart often afflicts women at this 
age. It is accounted for on the basis of debility. Women 
who are corpulent often have flabby muscles, from inertia. 
The heart, being a muscle, partakes of the debility, and 
is incapacitated for normal action. When debility exists, 
efforts must be used to restore health. First by hygienic 
living, and second by such medication as may assist the 
forces of nature. 

Excessive fat sometimes interferes with the heart's 
action, which is another reason it should be guarded against. 
Flatulence also causes irregularity of the heart beats. 
The smothery faintness caused by a distended stomach 
crowding the heart can be soon relieved by massage over 
the stomach and upward, kneading the flesh until the 
gas is expelled through the mouth. To relieve one's self 
successfully, the clothing should be quite loose, the mas- 



THE MENOPAUSE. 487 

sage firm but gentle. Indigestion causes flatulence. Such 
food as creates it should be avoided. 

Hysteria may affect those ladies who allow themselves 
to be resigned to suffering without inward courage. It 
is preventable by fortifying the strength through hygienic 
life, and by keeping the mind actively employed, shutting- 
out all evil forebodings of the change. Women who have 
passed through pregnancy and delivery can testify to the 
efficacy of the above in sustaining them through the period. 
The menopause is in accordance with natural laws, and 
should be looked forward to with the belief that all of 
nature is good, unless perverted. 

Connected with hysterical conditions, may be the fol- 
lowing mental disorders : " Loss of memory, to a greater 
or less extent, is apt to be first and most noticeable. Fre- 
quently, there is an entire and most remarkable change in 
disposition. A kind, patient mother, or forbearing, con- 
fiding, exemplary wife becomes irritable, unreasonable, and 
suspicious. 

" Her natural modesty may even give place to wan- 
tonness, in extreme cases, and the mother instinct may 
become so thoroughly obliterated as to cause an almost 
uncontrollable desire to take the lives of her little ones. 
The once happy woman becomes despondent, moody, and 
taciturn. She avoids company, has no taste for amuse- 
ments, and spends her time in watching the varying symp- 
toms, and bewailing her real and imaginary woes. In 
many cases, actual insanity, usually of a temporary nature, 



488 FEMINOLOGY. 

is the result of disturbances which the system undergoes 
at this time." 

How well it should be impressed on the mind that when 
such derangements are liable to occur, to hold one's self 
w T ell in hand, never allowing enough physical disorder to 
encourage mental disorder. A woman can be as healthy 
at forty-five as at fifteen, and with the added attractiveness 
of culture, experience, and breadth of intellect. To give 
up to morbid conditions at the climacteric, one is robbed 
of much of the pleasure and profit of the harvest time 
of life. 

" The law for beauty and the law for perfect health 
are the same," says Mulford. " Both depend entirely upon 
the state of your mind; or, in other words, on the kind 
of thoughts you put out and receive. 

" Ugliness of expression comes of unconscious trans- 
gression of a law, be the ugliness in the young or the old. 
Any form of decay in a human body, any form of weak- 
ness, anything in the personal appearance of men and 
women which makes them repulsive to you, is because 
their prevailing mood of mind has made them so." 

The body belongs to the individual, but is not the indi- 
vidual; therefore, it should be dominated by the intelli- 
gence. The mind and bodily sensations are inseparable, 
yet it should be apparent to the most ordinary person 
which should lead and govern. The more one responds 
to each sensation, the more sensitive she becomes, until 
life's surroundings are constantly a source of mental or 
physical irritation. One only begins to approach happi- 



THE MENOPAUSE. 4 8 9 

ness, when one begins to ignore bodily sensations, except 
as informants of conditions needing the mind's attention; 
as, the bath, the food, the excretions, exercise, sleep, etc. 

As the change of puberty comes to both boy and girl, 
so the change of life comes to both mature man and woman. 
As the girl's organism develops the ovum, the active female 
principle, and it ceases to develop after the menopause, 
so in the mature man's organism the sperm ceases gradu- 
ally to develop. 

In marriages between old men and young women, the 
children, should any arrive, do not have vitality, generally 
dying in infancy, which proves that strong fathers are 
needed, as well as strong mothers. 

Accordingly, a man approaching middle age, should 
adopt a simple, wholesome mode of life, refraining from 
excesses of all kinds. Especially if he does not wish to 
become what Shakespeare pictures as the last of the seven 
ages of man : " Second childishness and mere oblivion — 
sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." The 
mind and body can be preserved against the ravage of 
years by living in harmony with natural laws, as many 
hale, hearty, active, intellectual men and women testify. 

Without hygienic precautions, men may suffer from 
the change as seriously as women. Nervousness, insomnia, 
pain at the base of the brain, tendency to softening of the 
brain, and insanity, are some of the ailments. According 
as the sexual vigor has been guarded or not, will be the 
severity of the change, and the extent of the decline there- 
after. 



490 FEMINOLOGY. 

To " grow old gracefully/'' to meet advancing years 
unflinchingly, is perhaps as beautiful a desire as the heart 
can have. Years of happiness, usefulness, and content can 
be preserved clear down to the Valley of the Shadows, 
through love to God and love to humankind, with due 
regard to the care of the temple of the soul. 

Usually they are ready for the next natural change, 
which will enable them to say good-by to the " temple." 
As Holmes described it, " Xo human being can rest for 
any time in a state of equilibrium, where the desire to 
live and that to depart just balance each other. . . . Most 
persons have died before they expire — died to all earthly 
longings, so that the last breath is only, as it were, the 
locking of the door of the already deserted mansion.'' 

Whenever the face is turned toward the setting sun 
of life, the more quickly it is reached. 

So all to whom the earth apprenticeship is good, can 
usually stay and further perfect themselves by observing 
the rules for the conservation of health, which is life. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 

In the nourishment of the body it must be remembered 
that it is not what is swallowed alone that upbuilds and 
sustains, but what is digested and assimilated. And con- 
sequently the food must be chosen according to the climate 
and the age, temperament, and occupation of the individual. 
The best diet is that which is so well adapted to the indi- 
vidual requirements that everything eaten will be digested 
and absorbed. 

Few things are of more importance than that each per- 
son should be mentally and physically in condition to per- 
form the duties each day brings. How largely that depends 
on the food taken into the system very few realize. It 
really is one of the most important considerations relating 
to the physical welfare of humankind. 

According to Cutter, the human body is a machine for 
converting the latent energy stored in the foods into the 
active energy manifested in the heat and work of the living 
body. " Though the animal economy may combine simple 
compounds into complex compounds, as in the building up 
of complex tissues, yet in general it is engaged in reducing 
the complex compounds received as foods into the simpler 
compounds excreted as waste. In the process of break- 
ing up compounds, either by the union of oxygen with 

491 



492 FEMIXOLOGY. 

certain elements, or the splitting into simpler ones, force 
and heat are evolved. Every ingredient of food contains 
a fixed amount of force or energy; every one of the simpler 
compounds into which it may split up in the body, also 
contains its smaller but yet definite amount of force; and 
the difference between the latter and that in the original 
substance expresses the amount of force or energy which 
that substance contributes to the body.'' 

Tendencies for health or disease, for evil or for good, 
can be modified, or even completely changed, by the food 
taken into the system. 

Dr. J. H. Kellogg says, " Since the human body is 
made up of what is received into it in the form of food, 
it is evident that the character of a person's food largely 
determines his own character." 

Ordinarily, food is not selected and prepared with 
knowledge as to what repairs the worn-out tissues of the 
body, but with the notion of what will taste well, depend- 
ing entirely on taste to guide. Taste has become so sadly 
perverted it is seldom a true counselor, and together with 
the intemperance of overeating, it has caused more disease 
than any other single class of causes. It should be within 
the scope of every adult individual to know what should 
and what should not be eaten. If the diet be such as to 
make it necessary to partake in excess of one element to 
provide a sufficiency of another, the alimentary tract is 
overburdened. Derangement follows, which, in turn, is 
communicated to the brain. If the afflicted person does 
not locate and remove the cause, the temper becomes soured, 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 493 

and selfishness, originating in the perpetual attraction of 
the mind to the disorder, becomes chronic, and the possible 
trend of character changed. 

The food principles which enter the system through 
the mouth are — 

1. Water. 

2. Proteids. 

3. Fats. 

4. Carbohydrates. 

5. Salts, or mineral constituents. 

Oxygen, which is indispensable to the upbuilding and 
preservation of life, is supplied for the most part through 
the lungs. Deep breathing, with the mouth closed, is per- 
haps the most imperative of all needs. The air in the 
living rooms, sleeping rooms, and workrooms should be 
as pure as it can be made by the best-known means of ven- 
tilation. The clothing must be such as not to compress the 
body in any place. And the individual must train himself 
or herself consciously to breathe fully, deeply, and to exhale 
as completely as may be, several times daily. 

The next prime necessity to the system is water used 
in abundance, externally and internally. Life is destroyed 
much sooner without water than without solids. It is useful 
throughout the entire, system as bearer of the principles 
that upbuild, and in carrying away worn-out material. It 
constitutes about sixty-eight per cent of the entire weight 
of the individuals, and no one, except those of dropsical 
tendencies, can take too much pure water for the good of 
the body. 



494 FEMINOLOGY. 

The chief characteristics of good water are cleanliness, 
freedom from taste and odor, a certain degree of softness, 
good aeration, and coolness. It cannot be had from an 
impure source, or through pipes which may generate or 
absorb contamination. Soft water will dissolve lead ; hence 
cistern water should not be pumped through lead pipes, nor 
soft water used which has stood in lead pipes for any time. 
Hard water passes through lead pipes without injury to 
the users, owing to the lime contained in it. 

The best water is that obtained from deep wells or 
mountain springs. While shallow wells or river water 
liable to the access of sewage are dangerous. Cistern water 
is usually suspicious, if not dangerous. 

In the shallow wells, all impurity in proximity filters 
through the surface soil, and taints the water. Any near- 
ness of cesspool or privy vault is most objectionable. The 
most pernicious impurities to be found in a water supply 
come from animal and human excrement, decay of vege- 
table and animal matter, and lead. Many severe epidemics 
of typhoid fever, dysentery, and cholera have been traced 
to the water supply of a town having been tainted by cess- 
pool water or sewage. 

When there is suggestion of impurity in the water, 
either by taste, smell, or lack of clearness, it should be 
boiled, allowed to settle, poured from the dregs, and cooled 
for use, until analysis can be made. Boiling destroys dis- 
ease germs. 

The water eliminated from the body daily varies, 
according to the health of the individual and the quantity 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 495 

taken into the system. An estimate of the average amount 
expelled is, 9 ounces lost in respiration, 30 ounces exhaled 
through the skin, and 53 ounces discharged in the urine. 

Water should be taken in considerable quantities between 
meals. While all of the processes of the body are facili- 
tated by the presence of water, the supply for digestion 
should not be taken with the more solid foods. It must be 
absorbed before digestion begins. 

The proteids, or nitrogenous food stuffs, are the mus- 
cle- or flesh-forming materials indispensable to the body. 
The housewife is familiar with this class in the form of 
lean meat, eggs, cheese, dried codfish, beans, peas and 
lentils which have ripened. It is also found in the gluten 
of whole-wheat flour, and preparations of other grains. 

This class of foods is the most expensive, and intelli- 
gent combinations with others will prove to be a stroke 
of economy, which will also give better results in restoring 
the system and furnishing the needed heat and energy. 

The fats furnish the necessary heat to the body, and 
when partaken in too large quantities, are stored as body 
fat. They are derived from both animal and vegetable 
kingdoms, the latter being known as oils. The fats most 
familiar to the housewife are lard, butter, tallow, and cream. 

The carbohydrates form the most important class of 
a normal diet. This principle of food is the chief source 
of muscular energy, and also furnishes fat to the tissues. 
It is derived principally from the vegetable kingdom, and 
forms the bulk of the food of the world. The class com- 
prises the starches and sugars. The starches are derived 



496 FEMINOLOGY. 

from the grains, potatoes, sago, arrow-root, and tapioca. 
The sugars are chiefly derived from the fruits, the cane, 
the beet, and the maple. 

Cellulose, the main constituent of the vegetables, herbs, 
and greens, acts as a protective to the food principles 
contained therein. Cooking renders it soft, and better pre- 
pares the food for the process of digestion. While cellu- 
lose affords no nutriment, it is necessary to the system in 
bearing away waste, and in distending the alimentary canal, 
that the digestive secretions may the better act on the food. 

The salts are as essential to the system as are the pro- 
teids, and, with the exception of table salt, are found to 
be present in the constituency of a normal diet. 

Health may be sustained on a diet of proteids, carbo- 
hydrates, salts, and water; but not without the carbohy- 
drates. Experiments have proved that a certain propor- 
tion, of each class must be present in the well-ordered diet. 
Professor At water's recommendation for the adult man 
who does moderate work is that the diet for the day shall 
consist of about 5% ounces of proteids, $}i ounces of 
fats, and 17 ounces of carbohydrates. The average woman 
will consume about one tenth less; a child of ten, one half 
the quantity needed by the woman; while at fourteen, an 
amount equal to that consumed by a woman is needed for 
growth and repair. 

The following table of the nutritive values of different 
articles of food is very helpful in the selection of a family 
dietary. It was prepared by Dr. Kellogg, and published 
in his book, " Domestic Hygiene and Rational Medicine." 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 



497 



ARTICLES 



Bread 

Wheat Flour 

Barley Meal , 

Oatmeal 

Rye Meal 

Indian Meal 

Rice 

Peas 

Beans 

Lentils 

Arrowroot 

Potato 

Sweet Potato 

Carrot 

Beet 

Parsnip 

Cabbage 

Turnip 

Sugar 

Treacle 

New Milk , 

Cream , 

Skim milk 

Buttermilk , 

Lean Beef , 

Lean Mutton 

Veal 

Poultry , 

Whitefish 

Salmon 

Entire Egg 

White of Egg 

Yolk of Egg 

Breadfruit 

Banana 

Date 

Acid 

Grape , 

Apple , 

Pear , 

Peach 

Plum. 

Mulberry 

Blackberry 

Cherry 

Apricot 

Gooseberry 

Strawberry 

Wild Strawberry. , 

Raspberry 

Wild Raspberry. , 
Currant 

3* 



37 
15 
i5 
i5 
15 
H 
13 
8.3 
12.5 
"•5 



75 

67-5 

83 

83.5 

82 

94.4 
91 
5 

23 
86 
66 
88 
88 
72 
72 
63 
74 
78 
77 
74 
78 
52 
63 
74 
33 

80 
85 
84 
85 
82 

84.7 
86 

75 
85 
85 
87 
87 
86 

83 
86 



£ S 

w os S 

HOD 



5.1 
IO.8 

6.3 
12.6 

8 
11 . 1 

6.3 

23.8 
30.8 
25.2 

2.1 
1-5 
1.3 
1-5 
1.1 
0.9 
1.2 



4.1 

2.7 

4 

4.1 
19.3 
18.3 
16.5 
21 
18. 1 
16. 1 

14 

20.4 

16 

3 

4.8 

9 

0.8 
0.2 
0.2 

0.4 
0.2 

0.4 
o-5 
0.9 

0.8 
o.4 
o.3 
0.6 

o.5 
o.5 
0.4 



47.4 
66.3 

69.4 

58.4 

69.4 

64.7 

79.i 

56.7 

46.3 

54 

82 

18.8 

17 

8.4 

0.8 

9-6 

4.i 

5-i 



14 



o.5 

2.7 

3-2 
6.3 
5.7 
2 

i.4 
2.3 
5-9 
0.9 



o.3 



3-6 

4.2 

4-9 

5-4 

3.7 

0.4 

0.4 

2 

2 

2 

3-2 
10.2 

6.1 
!o.5 

5.8 

2.1 

95 

77 
5-2 
2.8 
5.4 
6.4 



19.6 
58 

13.8 
7.6 
7 
i.5 

3-6 
9 

4-4 
13 
1 
8 

7.2 
3-2 
4-7 
3.6 
4.7 



1.6 

2 

2.4 

5-6 

2 

8.1 

8.1 

2.1 

1-9 

2.6 



0.2 

0.3 
0.2 



o.5 



0.7 

3-6 
4-9 

15.8 
3-8 
2.9 
5-5 

io.5 

3o.7 
0.6 



0.7 



2.3 
1.7 

2 

3 
.1.8 

i.7 
0.5 
2.1 

3-5 
2.3 

0.7 
2.6 

3-7 

0.6 
0.6 



0.8 
1.8 

0.8 



4 
1-5 
1.6 

1-3 
0.8 



o.3 
o.3 
o-3 
0.4 



0.0 

o.5 
0.4 
0.6 

o.S 

°-3 

0.7 
0.7 

o-5 
0.3 

o-5 



o s J 



63 
85 
85 
85 
85 
86 

87 
86.7 

84.5 
86.1 
82 

25 

31.6 

17 

16.5 

18 

5-6 

9 
95 
77 
14 
34 
12 
12 
28 
28 

37 
26 
22 

23 
26 
22 
48 

17 
25.8 

67 



15-4 
10.8 
10.7 
8.6 
10. 1 
11. 9 

6.7 
16.8 

8-5 
9-6 
8.3 
5-4 
7-4 
5.5 
5.0 



49^ FEMINOLOGY. 

The several methods of cooking, as roasting, broiling, 
boiling, baking, and frying, change the condition of foods, 
making them the more readily digested, in the majority of 
cases. All animal flesh and starchy and cellulose sub- 
stances should be subjected to heat before being eaten, with 
the exception of certain ripe fruits. The simplest prepara- 
tions create the most healthful food. 

For meats, roasting and broiling are the best methods 
of cooking, the nutritive elements being the better pre- 
served than in boiling. Frying is a most objectionable 
form of cooking, unless the substances to be prepared be 
submerged in hot fat. Otherwise the fat permeates the 
foods, and hinders digestion. To submerge the article 
in fat will require a kettle such as is used in boiling. 
Enough fat should be used to cover what is to be prepared, 
and heated until a blue smoke begins to arise. Whatever 
is plunged therein will have an outside protective layer 
at once formed, and the nutritive element preserved, with- 
out a disagreeable amount of fat. 

Vegetables are rendered more edible by baking or boil- 
ing. The proper application of heat controls the digesti- 
bility. Wheat, oats, and corn, in their different prepara- 
tions, require long, slow cooking, thus bursting the starch 
granules, and making them sweeter and more digestible. 
The popular breakfast food, oatmeal, should be put over 
the fire in boiling water which has been salted, and cooked 
from three quarters of an hour to an hour. To prevent 
burning, a steamer, or farina boiler, is necessary. 

Mrs. Rorer makes the following recommendations as 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 499 

to preparing vegetables : " All green top-ground vegetables 
should go over the fire in boiling salted water, be boiled 
a moment, and then pushed back where they will simmer 
at 180 (Fahrenheit), until tender. Cabbage, cauliflower, 
and their allies, and turnips should be clear and white; 
green peas, beans, and spinach, a bright green. All white 
and underground vegetables should be cooked in boiling, 
wzsalted water, the salt being added after, or when they 
are partly cooked. Rice requires rapid boiling; the motion 
of the water washes apart the grains, that each may be 
soft, separate, and dry. Potatoes should be kept at the 
boiling point from the beginning to the end of their cook- 
ing; drained when tender, sprinkled with salt, and dried 
uncovered over the fire. If green vegetables are wilted, 
they should be soaked for an hour or two in cold water." 

Fruits are beneficial to the system for their vegetable 
acid salts. Unripe fruit must never be eaten raw, on 
account of the quantity of starch that has not been converted 
into sugar, causing deranged digestion. When not too 
immature, cooking will remove hygienic objections. To 
modify the acidity in such fruits as currants and goose- 
berries, during the process of stewing before the sugar is 
added, a little baking soda (a lump the size of a pea to the 
pint of fruit) may be put in. 

The flavorings or seasoning used in foods have their 
uses as well as abuses. They relieve the monotony of an 
otherwise tiresome group of foods, which must be used 
for nourishment of the body. 

" Surely the economical housekeeper who would throw 



500 FEMINOLOGY. 

out of the list of necessaries all of the things that tickle 
the palate, that rouse the sense of smell, that please the 
eye, and stimulate our tired nerves, just because these 
things contain but little food, would make a grave mistake. 
She may know just what cuts of meat to buy, what vege- 
tables are most healthful and economical, but if she does 
not understand how to ' make the mouth water/' her labor 
is largely lost. Especially, if she has but little money, 
she should pay great attention to this subject, for it is 
the only way to induce the body to take up plain food with 
relish." 

The diet in infancy, as before stated in this volume, 
should be milk exclusively for the first six months; and 
milk in generous proportions, until all the teeth are through. 

The diet in cJiildhood must provide for growth as well 
as repair of the tissues; and while plain and simple, it 
must be varied that the appetite will not reject it. 

For illustration of food suitable between the ages of 
three and ten years, the following is recommended in 
" Hygiene of the Nursery : " — 

BREAKFAST. 



Every day. 

Milk. 
Porridge and Cream. 

Bread and Butter. 



One dish only each day. 

Fresh Fish. Chicken hash. 

Eggs, lightly boiled. Stewed kidney 

" poached. " liver. 

Eggs, scrambled. 



" Sound fruits may be allowed before and after the 
meal, according to taste, as oranges, grapes (seeds not 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 501 

to be swallowed), peaches, thoroughly ripe pears, canta- 
loupes, and strawberries." 



DINNER. 



Every day. 

Clear Soup. 

Meat, roasted or broiled, and 

cut into small pieces. 

Bread and Butter. 



Two dishes each day. 

Potatoes, baked. Macaroni, plain. 

11 mashed. Peas. 

Spinach. String beans, young. 

Stewed Celery. Green corn, grated. 

Cauliflower. Hominy. 



Junket, rice and milk, or other light pudding, and occa- 
sionally ice cream, may be allowed for dessert. 

SUPPER. 
Every day. 
Milk. Stewed fruit. 

Milk toast, or bread and butter. 

" Fried food, highly-seasoned or made-up dishes are 
to be excluded, and no condiment but salt is to be used." 

" As to the quantity, a healthy child may be permitted 
to satisfy his appetite at each meal, under the one condi- 
tion, that he eats slowly and masticates thoroughly." 

The diet in youth is usually equal in quantity to that 
of the adult woman, and, where the adult adheres to 
hygienic diet, the quality is much the same. Tea, coffee, 
and cocoa should be excluded from the diet of the growing 
child; the only permissible beverage being pure water and 
milk. 

Animal food, as a rule, is more easily digested than 
vegetable food, but should never predominate as an article 



502 FEMIN0L0GY. 

of diet. There should be a judicious combination, the child 
being encouraged to eat the more wholesome food, rather 
than pastries or cakes in any quantity. 

One common-sense housekeeper, whose entire domain 
was a model, and who did her own work, said she reserved 
all cake-and-pie making for " high days, holidays, and 
bonfire nights." And the rosy cheeks and sound bodies 
of the children were sermons and testimonials to the wis- 
dom of her plan. 

Children can be interested in food values. What cre- 
ates energy, muscular tissue, heat, etc., will become a sub- 
ject of such interest that the active, eager minds will learn 
to inquire before allowing themselves to eat of what merely 
tickles the palate. In drinking their milk, for instance, it 
can be impressed that if it is swallowed in gulps, it will 
become a cheesy mass in the stomach and difficult of di- 
gestion. 

As to bread, that made of graham has some of all 
the elements which the body needs. The growing child 
may be led to choose it in preference to the white, which 
lacks muscle-making, bone-forming elements. So with 
beans, peas, rice, oatmeal, fruits, etc. ; by encouraging 
inquiry as to what is best for the system, half the battle 
for sound health in the rising generation is won. 

Many physiologists object to the consumption of sweets 
by children or adults, but where no acidity of the stomach 
is induced, it is latterly agreed that pure sugar is beneficial 
for any who crave it. 

The choice candies are expensive, and mothers who 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 503 

wish to supply this nerve aliment to growing children may 
do so through the pure home-made candies. Many mothers 
purchase the raw-beet sugar, and allow the children free 
access to the supply, although at stated intervals; others 
buy the loaf sugar and flavor with some pleasant, harmless 
extract. 

When this plan is practiced, it does away with the 
ardent craving for cakes and pastries, which are not di- 
gestible. 

" Sugar contributes both animal heat and nervous force, 
and seems to be a transformation of the elements of heat, 
as the diamond is transformed carbon." 

The diet in bodily labor for the adult must largely 
furnish muscle-repairing material, as found in lean meat, 
cheese, beans, peas, lentils, etc. ; although never exclusively. 
of such. Meat should not be partaken oftener than once 
a day. It should be strictly fresh, and well cooked, but 
not overdone. Dried meats or salt meats have no excuse 
for being. They cumber the digestive apparatus, without 
yielding to it any nourishment. Meat should vary once 
or twice a week with fresh fish; it is brain food. A meal 
should not be eaten directly after exhausting muscular exer- 
tion, but allow a few moments to elapse — from twenty 
minutes to a half hour — for the circulation of the blood 
to become tranquilized. Otherwise, the foods which fur- 
nish muscular repair and energy are not well digested; 
hence, although the nourishment has been supplied, when 
the digestive powers cannot use it, the system must suffer 
in the end. The present strength is often fictitiously re-en- 



504 FEMIN0L0GY. 

forced by alcoholics and other stimulants, which tempo- 
rarily prevent the brain from recognizing the effects of 
exhaustion or malnutrition. 

The diet in mental labor, as recommended by standard 
authorities, should consist of easily digested mixed foods, 
supplied at frequent intervals, so as to furnish the greatest 
quantity of nourishment without overloading the stomach. 
" For it is essential to the intellectual direction of the 
nervous system that it should not be oppressed by physical 
impediments. The presence in the stomach or in the blood 
of imperfectly assimilated nutriment impedes its functions, 
in close proportion to their amount, so that not only the 
constituents, but the mode of administering food, must 
come into the calculation." 

" Rest from brain work for twenty minutes before 
meals, entire abstinence from it during meals, and rest 
again till the weight has passed from the stomach, are essen- 
tial to the reconcilement of psychical exertion with bodily 
health." 

Said a woman writer of distinction, " I have had brain 
fag so entire that it seemed as if I never could write, or 
had written, a line, which was relieved by taking a sirupy 
small glass of eau sucree; when shortly, ideas gathered and 
took shape, and the blank brain resumed its work." 

This is an item worthy of remembrance for brain 
workers, who must pursue their line of work without long 
intermissions. 

The diet in pregnancy has been before mentioned. As 
in the cases of athletes training for a certain exertion, the 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 505 

strength should be guarded, and care exercised that there 
be not an over accumulation of fat. 

Dr. Melendy names the following list of prepared foods 
as suitable for the pregnant woman : Baked potatoes, ome- 
lets, baked apples, cornmeal mush, rice muffins, tomatoes, 
baked rice, codfish cakes, corn cakes, cracked wheat, sago, 
oatmeal gruel, corn muffins, tapioca pudding, soft-boiled 
eggs, green peas, asparagus, rhubarb, Boston brown bread, 
entire-wheat bread, corn bread, celery, and all kinds of 
fruits in abundance. Plain soups are excellent, and meats 
may be sparingly eaten. 

The diet in old age should largely consist of foods defi- 
cient in bone-forming material. While that which gener- 
ates force and energy and deposits fat should be preferred. 
Overeating after middle age is apt to be punished by gout. 
Loss of appetite is often a serious symptom of advancing 
years, usually following in the wake of disregard for 
hygienic rules in earlier life. 

Throughout life, the digestion is benefited by cheer- 
fulness of mind. Sudden emotions of any nature arrest 
the processes of digestion. Prentice Mulford says, " We 
may eat the healthiest bread in the world, and if we eat 
it in a sour temper, we will put sourness in our stomachs, 
and sourness on our faces. Or if we eat in an anxious 
frame of mind, and are worrying all the time about how 
much we should or should not eat, and whether it may 
hurt us after all, we are consuming anxious, worried, fret- 
ful thought-element with our food, and it will poison us. 
If we are cheerful and chatty, lively and jolly, while eat- 



5 o6 FEMINOLOGY. 

ing, we are putting liveliness and cheer into ourselves and 
making such qualities more and more a part of ourselves. 
If our family group eat in silence, or come to the table with 
a sort of forced and resigned air ; and the head of the family 
buries himself in his business care or his newspaper, and 
reads all the murders, suicides, burglaries, and scandals 
for the last twenty- four hours ; and the queen of the house- 
hold buries herself in sullen resignation or household cares; 
then there are being literally consumed at that table along 
with the food, the thought-element of worry, murder, sui- 
cide, and the morbid element which loves to dwell on the 
horrible and ghostly. As a result, dyspepsia in some of 
its many forms will be manufactured all the way down 
the line, from one end of the table to the other." 

Deficiency of one or more food principles shows differ- 
ent, though marked effects. If the proteids, the muscle- 
builders, be withdrawn from the diet, after a few days 
there is noticeable loss of muscular strength, often mental 
weakness and indecision. General prostration will be the 
result, after a time. If the proteids are not withdrawn, 
but merely deficient, the system becomes weakened and 
the body liable to such afflictions as typhoid fever, malaria, 
and pneumonia. To deprive the system of the carbohy- 
drates and fats induces illness in a few days. A deficiency 
of the salts, or mineral ingredients, especially in the grow- 
ing period, produces rickets and bone-softening. 

Each class of food principles, however, performs more 
than one office in the body. Under intelligent combina- 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 507 

tions, the greatest good may be had without overexertion 
of digestive powers. 

An excess of food causes as serious disorders of the 
system as deficiency. More people, it is said, die from 
overeating than from starvation. Which leads us to be 
thankful there is enough and more than enough for the 
majority, while deploring the lack of will, selfishness, and 
thoughtlessness which leads to overeating. 

Excess of proteids taken habitually, as in overeating 
of meat, induces enlargement of the liver, plethora of the 
system, and imperfect oxidation of food and tissue ele- 
ments. Excess of starchy foods tends to acidity and flatu- 
lence of the digestive tract, resulting in chronic dyspepsia. 
Excess of sugars and fats weaken the muscular system, 
while increasing the accumulation of body fat. Especially 
is it true when there is a deficiency of exercise. 

Only a certain quantity of food can be cared for by 
the digestive system at one time. When an excess is taken 
into the stomach, what cannot be digested undergoes chem- 
ical changes, through the heat and moisture in the intes- 
tines, putrefies, and generates gases, which may result 
in colic, siight fever, vomiting, or diarrhea. Excess in 
eating not only consists in partaking of too much at one 
meal, but also in taking food too frequently, thereby taking 
more than is needed in the twenty-four hours. The object 
to be kept in view in the use of food is the development 
and maintenance of a sound body; and the quantity and 
quality gauged according to the employment, weather, etc. 



508 FEMINOLOGY. 

The process of digestion has become familiar to almost 
all, through the school physiologies. Perhaps chewing, or 
insalivation, is most important, because it is the only con- 
scious part of digestion. The food should always be well 
ground by the teeth, and moistened with the saliva and not 
with table beverages. The saliva is a secretion necessary 
to perfect digestion. This necessitates eating slowly; 
although there are persons who masticate rapidly and well. 
But the quick snapping of the jaws together is too sug- 
gestive of swine to be commendable. 

Where there is any tendency to diarrhea, food should 
be chosen in the condensed form which is devoid of all 
properties, except those which supply actual nourishment. 
On the other hand, if the tendency is toward constipation, 
food should be chosen containing the greatest amount of 
waste material; such articles stimulate digestive action, 
hence are laxative. 

Food of easy digestion should not be exclusively chosen, 
as digestive powers lose strength, which is of as much mis- 
fortune as if they were overworked and exhausted. The 
habit of chewing gum cannot be too strongly condemned. 
The presence of gum in the mouth excites the gastric glands 
to action, and they soon become exhausted from overwork. 

Following is a table of the time required for the diges- 
tion of ordinary articles of food : — 






DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 



509 



Articles. Hours, Min. 

Sweet Apples 1 30 

Sour Apples 2 00 

Green Beans 2 30 

Ripe Beans 3 00 

Fresh Beef, rare, roasted 3 00 

Fresh Beef, dried 3 30 

Fresh Beef, fried 4 00 

Beets, boiled 3 45 

Wheat Bread 3 30 

Corn Bread 3 15 

Butter 3 30 

Cabbage, raw 2 00 

Cabbage, boiled 4 30 

Cheese 3 30 

Codfish 2 00 

Custard, baked 2 45 

Domestic Duck 4 00 

Wild Duck 4 30 

Fresh Eggs, hard boiled 3 30 

Fresh Eggs, soft boiled 3 00 

Fresh Eggs, fried 3 30 

Goose, roast 2 00 

Lamb, boiled 2 30 

Beef Liver, boiled .... 2 00 

Milk, boiled 2 00 

Milk, raw 2 15 



Articles. Hours. Min. 

Mutton, roast 3 15 

Mutton, broiled 3 00 

Mutton, boiled 3 00 

Oysters, raw 2 55 

Oysters, roast 3 15 

Oysters, stewed 3 30 

Parsnips, boiled 2 30 

Pork, roast 5 15 

Pork, boiled 3 15 

Potatoes, boiled 3 30 

Potatoes, baked 2 30 

Rice 1 00 

Sago 1 

Salmon 4 

Soup, beef .... 4 

Soup, Chicken 3 

Soup, Oyster 3 

Tapioca 2 

Tripe 1 

Trout, fresh 1 

Turkey, domestic, roast 2 

Turkey, wild, roast .... 2 

Turnips, boiled 3 

Veal, broiled 4 

Veal, fried 4 

Venison steak, broiled... 1 



45 
00 
00 
00 
30 
00 
00 
30 
00 
30 
30 
00 

30 
35 



Easy of digestion — Arrowroot, asparagus, cauliflower, 
baked apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, peaches. 

Moderately digestible — Apples, raspberries, bread, pud- 
dings, rhubarb, chocolate, coffee, fruit pies. 

Hard to digest — Nuts, pears, plums, cherries, cucum- 
bers, onions, pork, pickles, cakes, carrots. 

The diet in disease must, of course, be regulated by the 
nature of the ailment. Food otherwise wholesome may 
under certain conditions increase disease. What is neces- 
sary in disease is to avoid such food, and yet maintain the 
functions that are normal. When the system is reduced by 
disease, the digestion loses normal activity through sym- 



5io 



FEM1N0L0GY. 



pathy. More nourishment is needed, to be sure, to upbuild 
the failing strength, but it must be supplied by food that 
can be readily assimilated. To administer food because it 
may contain strength-giving properties is not to be thought 
of unless it can be observed that the digestion will accom- 
modate it. 

Consumption is a disease largely dependent on nutrition 
for cure; other means being a pure, dry atmosphere, medi- 
cation to a limited extent, and full and free cleansing of 
the body externally and internally. Dr. A. Wilford Hall 
testifies to having cured himself of consumption, and kept 
himself in health for nearly a half century thereafter by 
the use of copious rectal injections every other night, and 
supplying his system with suitable nourishment. 

James Arthur Gibson, who was pronounced an incur- 
able consumptive, writes of his recovery and cure in the 
Nineteenth Century (January, 1899, number) as follows: — 

" In the summer of 1895 I completely broke down in 

health. ... I was examined by Drs. , who both 

told me the same thing — that my case was very desperate, 
that I was suffering from acute phthisis. ... I was ordered 
to stop work and go to the country to live and have 
complete rest. No one, myself least of all, expected to see 
me well again. When I had been in the country three 
months, a friend advised me to go to Nordrach in the Black 
Forest of Germany. I decided to give Nordrach a trial. 
The outstanding feature of the treatment at the sanitarium 
I found to be: Overfeeding. Dr. Walther holds that 
there can be no cure without weight-gaining. It is amaz- 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 511 

ing the amount one can eat when forced to it; twice or 
three times as much as one would feel inclined to eat. There 
is no harshness used, but somehow the doctor is able to 
make every one eat the amount necessary. The food is of 
the ordinary kind, consisting of plenty of milk, fats of all 
kinds, meats, potatoes, vegetables, butter, bread, cheese, 
fruits, sweets, etc. The gain in weight is often enormous. 
We used to say among ourselves, or when impressing a new- 
comer to eat largely, that we had to eat three times the 
ordinary amount of food; one portion to replace natural 
waste; a second portion to replace the waste from the dis- 
ease; and a third portion to put on weight, so that the 
system might be strengthened, and finally get the better of 
the disease. As the weight increases, the patient begins to 
feel more fit, and to realize that at last he has stumbled on 
the right treatment. The cough leaves him after the first 
few weeks. The chest begins to expand, the lungs to heal, 
and little by little the patient's bent shoulders begin to 
straighten. When in bed the patient is expected to eat as 
much as when going about. I was at Nordfach three and 
a half months, and gained thirty-eight pounds. Since my 
return, I have been examined by doctors who knew me 
before 'and during my illness ; and they have pronounced 
me perfectly sound.'' 

It will be well to keep in mind the rational treatment 
commended above, as consumption is a very widespread 
disease. 

Scrofula is related to consumption by heredity. Scrof- 
ulous children may be born of consumptive parents, or 



512 FEMINOLOGY. 

consumptive children of scrofulous parents. The appetite 
must be encouraged and a most nutritious diet provided, 
avoiding fats, using meats scantily, and prohibiting the use 
of pork entirely. 

Rickets being a disease due to the nondeposition of 
earthy salts in the bones, necessarily requires food to supply 
the deficiency, along with other hygienic treatment. Starchy 
foods and sugars must be avoided, and limewater used with 
oatmeal or milk. This is a disease of childhood. 

Anemia may be cured by attention to diet and other 
hygienic measures. Abundance of food containing the pro- 
teid elements must be used. Poultry, game, eggs, rnilk, 
meats, broth, and other nourishing articles for variety, 
should be eaten in excess of the demands of the appetite. 
The red corpuscles are thereby encouraged, and health soon 
becomes normal, when the patient is not too wasted by dis- 
ease, which often precedes anemia. 

Rheumatism requires a diet differing entirely from 
anemia. Meat in any form must not be used during 
attacks, and scantily used at other times. The system seems 
to lack power of converting meat into living flesh. Use 
a fruit and vegetable diet, excluding potatoes, rice, sago, 
white bread, tea, coffee, and cocoa. An abundance of water 
will greatly aid in ridding the system of obstructions; or 
lemonade may be used, if preferred. Also use the hot-air 
or vapor baths. 

Gout is due to the sufferer's — or the ancestry, or both 
— having partaken of more nitrogenous food than the sys- 
tem could accommodate, causing the presence of uric acid in 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 513 

the blood. In overcoming attacks, the diet may be the 
same as in rheumatic attacks. Children of gouty family 
should have simple fare and abundance of muscular exer- 
cise through life, as preventives of the disorder. 

Diabetes, in the acute form, is largely corrected by a 
regulated diet. Nitrogenous foods must be used, exclud- 
ing the sugars and starches. It is incurable in the chronic 
stage, so far as is now known; but life may be soothed 
and prolonged by diet as above. 

Among the articles of food allowable, may be named 
eggs, cheese, butter, poultry, game, all kinds of meat except 
liver, fish, oysters, shellfish; lettuce, cabbage, celery, spin- 
ach, water-cress, kale; tea, coffee, and chocolate, all with- 
out sugar. 

The prohibited articles seem to include the largest and 
ordinarily most desirable list ; as, rice, oatmeal, flour, starch, 
buckwheat, cornmeal, beans, peas, lentils, potatoes, grapes, 
pears, peaches, figs, apples, bananas, cherries, berries, mel- 
ons, onions, etc. 

In jaundice, and congested or torpid liver, the diet must 
consist of a fruit and vegetable diet, excluding pastries, 
cakes, and white bread. The bowels must be well cleansed 
by copious enemas, while emetics administered will stimu- 
late biliary activity. 

Dyspepsia is a disease requiring care in the selection 
of foods, using only such articles as best agree with the 
digestion. Usually tea, coffee, chocolate, pastries, and 
starchy foods must be foregone; while fruits, vegetables, 
and meats, except pork, are acceptable. The dyspeptic 
33 



5H FEMINOLOGY. 

must cultivate all hygienic means for the restoration of 
general health, and eat as largely as possible. While, at 
the same time, he or she should cultivate the power of 
ignoring, not seeing what is depressing or unpleasant. 
Cheerfulness is the foe of dyspepsia. 

Scurvy is a disease, the prevention of which depends 
entirely on suitable diet, such as will repair the waste of 
the system. It was formerly very prevalent among sol- 
diers and sailors, and people confined to food lacking in 
variety or quantity. 

Fevers, like muscular efforts, exhaust the body, and 
arrest digestive activity. As nourishment is essentially 
needed, that most easily assimilated must be prepared for 
the fever patient. Taking advantage of the fact that water 
is the most highly digestible of all food substances, what- 
ever nutriment may be dissolved therein may be adminis- 
tered with it for sustenance. Such foods as have tissue- 
repairing properties, as meat soups, chicken broth, well- 
cooked oatmeal gruel, and milk should be prepared. 

In supplying a sick or convalescent patient with nour- 
ishment, care must be used not to offend with a too large 
quantity. A very small portion delicately cooked and taste- 
fully served will often have a stimulating effect upon the 
flagging appetite, and create the demand for more. The 
same variety should not be served oftener than necessary; 
the sensitive stomach will reject it. All food not eaten must 
be removed at once from the sick-room. Something should 
always be in readiness to be served, should the appetite 
demand; waiting often takes away the desire. 



DIET IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 515 

Barley Water, — Wash thoroughly half a cup of pearl 
barley. Place in a saucepan with two quarts of water, 
and boil until the barley is quite soft. Strain, and put in 
a jug. Sprinkle well a few slices of lemon with sugar, 
and drop into the jug. Cover, and let stand until cool. 
If more agreeable, sweeten to taste. 

Oatmeal Gruel. — Take two tablespoonfuls of oatmeal, 
half a blade of mace, a little lemon peel, and a pint of water 
or milk. Set over the fire for a quarter of an hour, stirring 
constantly. Strain, and add a little sugar. 

Iceland Moss Jelly. — Wash and bruise Iceland or Irish 
moss, and soak twelve hours. Put in fresh water in the 
proportion of an ounce to a quart, and boil until reduced 
to half the quantity of water. Strain. Take it with milk, 
if preferred. 

Arrowroot. — Put one tablespoonful of arrowroot into 
a vessel; rub smooth with a little cold water; pour over 
this a pint of boiling water or milk, stirring the whole 
time. Boil for two or three minutes. Sweeten to taste. 

Beverage of Figs and Apples. — Cut six figs and two 
apples into six pieces each. Pour over this two quarts of 
boiling water; boil the whole together twenty minutes. 
Set aside to cool, and pass through sieve when ready for 
use. The figs and apples may be eaten with a little boiled 
rice. 



516 FEMINOLOGY. 

Flaxseed Tea. — Two ounces of whole flaxseed, two 
ounces of white sugar, the juice of a small lemon. Pour 
over this mixture two quarts of boiling water, cover, and 
let stand in a warm place four hours. Strain and use. 

Nutrient Enema. — Inject slowly into the bowel, about 
an hour after washing out with a simple enema, one table- 
spoonful Bovinine mixed in a couple ounces of water or 
milk, with the yolk of one egg. Give at a temperature 
of 95 to 98 . 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 

In caring for a person afflicted by disease, vigilance 
in all directions is needed that the forces of life and health 
may be assisted in the work of restoration. Perfect sani- 
tation of the sick-room and surroundings probably stands 
at the head of important requisites. 

Whenever it is possible to have an airy, sunny, and 
comfortable room at the top of the house, it is always to 
be preferred in an illness. The floor should be bared and 
wiped free from dust. All heavy draperies and uphol- 
stered furniture should be removed as being shelters for 
dust and impurity; the spaces vacated are better filled with 
fresh air, at any rate. Only the furniture essentially needed 
should be placed in the sick-room, and that of a nature 
that can be readily cleansed. The only draperies permissible 
are window curtains, to soften the glare of the light. These 
should be of fabrics easily laundered. 

It is often desirable to have a strong woven-wire cot 
in the sick-room in addition to the bed, that the patient may 
be removed to it while the bed is being renovated and aired. 
Especially when convalescence begins, is the change grate- 
ful to the sick one. 

Both the bed linen and wearing apparel need more fre- 
quent changing in sickness than in health, and oftener in 

517 



518 FEMINOLOGY. 

acute than in chronic diseases. The system is throwing 
off impurity engendered by the disease in addition to the 
waste of the body. All changes of linen for body or bed 
should be dried and aired before the fire previous to being 
put on. 

The furniture and floor should be daily wiped free 
from dust. The broom and dust-brush have no place in 
the sick-room ; in their stead, damp cloths wrung from clean 
warm water should be used on all the contents of the room. 

All the utensils used in the sick-room must be kept clean 
and tidy. Florence Nightingale, who is called the mother 
of scientific nursing, said that " the fear of dirt is the begin- 
ning of good nursing." Water intended for the patient to 
drink should each time be fresh. When allowed to stand, 
it absorbs impurities; likewise, any food prepared for the 
sick-room should be removed to the refrigerator until 
needed. 

When no special reason, to the contrary exists, the 
patient should be washed twice a day. The medical attend- 
ant will direct as to the manner of the bath and the tem- 
perature of the water used. Care must be used that the 
body be not exposed to chill. This is avoided by bathing 
and drying one part of the body at a' time. In cases of 
young children who can be easily handled and quickly 
dried, the ordinary warm plunge bath may be used even 
in serious illness. On being removed, the entire body 
should be enveloped in a bath blanket, or large towel, and 
dried a portion at a time. With any patient special atten- 
tion should be given to the folds in arms, legs, groins, 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 519 

armpits, and behind the ears. If the skin seems irritated, 
some pleasant powder should be dusted over the parts. 
After the clean apparel has been arranged, the hair should 
be brushed and dressed, the nails cleaned and pared when 
necessary, and the teeth brushed and mouth washed. 

Two bedgowns should be at hand, one for day and 
one for night wear. These must be changed for fresh, 
clean garments as often as they become charged with 
emanations from the body. One gown should be exposed 
to the sun and air or heat and air, while the other is 
in use. 

After the bath, the patient may be made comfortable 
on the cot, while the room is ventilated and the bed attended 
to. Those cots are preferable provided with well-oiled 
rollers. The cot is pushed to the bedside, the patient 
assisted to it, and then moved to a place previously made 
clean and out of the way of drafts. 

Nothing can be of greater importance in the sick- 
room than sunlight and pure air. In the morning puri- 
fication of the room, the patient should be covered with 
an extra comfortable or blanket, with the head and neck 
protected, allowing the mouth and nose to be free. The 
doors and windows may then be safely opened, the cur- 
tains raised, and the room given a baptism of air and sun- 
shine. If the light is trying to the eyes of the sick one, 
a screen should be placed to shield them. 

While the air in the room is being purified, the bed 
and bedding should be exposed. During this time the 
furniture and floor may be freed from dust. In very cold 



520 FEMIN0L0GY. 

weather, this process must not be too prolonged, lest the 
temperature of the room be too much lowered. Neither 
is it advisable in chilly, damp weather. When great uni- 
formity of temperature is needed in treating a disease, 
other methods of renewing the air must be used. 

When the bed is rearranged and the room made tidy, 
the patient will usually be ready for a refreshing sleep. 
The extra coverings should not be removed, of course, 
until the normal temperature of the room has been regained. 
Then the patient may be again assisted to the freshly made 
bed for a rest. 

This is the hour usually best adapted for the nurse to 
take her walk for exercise and fresh air, leaving a watcher 
in her stead in the sick-room, until her return. This air- 
ing is essential to the preservation of the nurse's bodily 
vigor, which is so much needed in the sick-room. 

As a means of constant ventilation, nothing can be 
compared to an open-grate fire. Pure air may be allowed 
to enter from windows slightly lowered at the top. By 
coming in contact with the warm air near the ceiling it 
is warmed while falling downward through it. An open 
fire in its upward current draws with it the impure and 
exhausted air. Where the open fireplace does not exist, 
other means must be arranged for the free ingress and 
egress of currents of air. But the current should never 
be so strong as to be noticeable. 

Sunshine is nature's own health-giving agent for which 
nothing can be substituted. While giving life to the human, 
it destroys germ life and other impurities. Unless the 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 521 

physician orders darkness for the treatment of some par- 
ticular disease, the sick-room should be given the benefit 
of the direct rays of the sun. Sun baths are recommended 
in certain illnesses. The bed should be so turned that the 
light will not strike the patient's face and eyes, else a screen 
arranged to protect. But the entire sick-room should not 
be constantly darkened, except under the physician's orders. 

In addition to the sunlight, it is sometimes beneficial 
to use some simple disinfectant to make the atmosphere 
of the room more wholesome. A basket of unslaked lime 
and broken charcoal is very safe and efficient in absorbing 
impurity. Ground coffee sprinkled over hot coals on a 
shovel is a mild and agreeable disinfectant. 

It is said to be a safe general rule, the better the nurse 
the smaller amount of disinfectant will be employed. Abso- 
lute cleanliness and good ventilation and exposure to sun- 
light are the cardinal virtues in sanitation, and the use 
of germicides can never accomplish an equal amount of 
good, without the aids from nature. 

The temperature must be kept uniform in most cases 
of any degree of severity. For the purpose of ascertaining 
the same, there should be a well-adjusted thermometer in 
the sick-room. It should be where it will not be affected 
by the direct rays of sunlight or heat from the fire. 

Open fires are preferable to others for increasing the 

temperature of the room. Where stoves must be used, 

there must be greater vigilance as to the supply of fresh 

air. A stove exhausts as much air as a dozen persons. 

Generally speaking, the temperature should be kept 



522 FEMINOLOGY. 

between 6o° and 65 F. Although some cases of disorders 
of the lungs require a constant temperature of 70 ° F. 

Quiet is an essential in the sick-room. The movements 
of the nurse should be gentle and without haste. No 
nervous, hurried efforts to arrange the room in a given 
time are to be put forth. For the attendant to be easy, 
natural, and self-contained establishes confidence and a 
sense of security in the patient. Noisy closing of doors 
must be prevented, creaking hinges oiled, and heavy walk- 
ing avoided. The nurse should wear soft shoes like felt, 
and dresses and skirts without the noisy rustle sometimes 
effected. 

The physician will decide whether or not his patient 
is able to see visitors, and the nurse will enforce his direc- 
tions. Sometimes a convalescent receives a back-set through 
the thoughtless chatter of well-intentioned but tactless vis- 
itors. No morbid conversation should occur in the sick- 
room; neither should there be any remarks that the patient 
is intended not to hear. All mutual discourse must be in 
tones distinct enough for the patient to understand, if inter- 
ested. If the state of the disease is serious enough to make 
recovery doubtful, friendly inquiries can find it out, with- 
out entering the sick-room to put the question. 

Friends of the family in which there is illness are wont 
to manifest their kindly feelings by offering to care for 
the patient at night. All people are not equally good 
nurses. And as the duties of the night nurse are as 
responsible as those during the day, it can hardly be expected 
they will be as thoroughly discharged by friends who have 



HINTS ON NURSING* THE SICK. 523 

attended to their own affairs through the day, and are ready 
for sleep at night, as by one whose profession is nursing, 
and who is not fatigued. 

Whenever the case requires constant watching, two 
capable attendants should be engaged for day and night. 

It is safe to say no one should enter the profession of 
nursing, unless there is that most needed element, the love 
of human kind, in her character. She must also be in 
health, that herself may resist disease; and must possess 
tact, skill, and firmness in the management of the patient. 

One who is interested in the work of restoring health 
will take careful pride in all the details necessary for the 
welfare of the ailing one. Many of the details may not 
be especially dignified, but dignity itself is an attribute of 
the individual, and not of the task. 

In addition to sanitary care of the sick-room and per- 
son of the patient, it is the nurse's duty to observe the 
changes wrought by the disease ; keep a record of the tem- 
perature of the patient, the frequency of the pulse, and fre- 
quency of breathing, and the times nourishment is taken, 
for the benefit of the medical attendant ; also to administer 
such remedies as are prescribed. 

As the physician can see the patient for only a few 
moments at a time, he must largely depend for success 
in treating, upon the watchfulness, intelligence, and con- 
scientiousness of the nurse. She must report whether or 
not the patient has been restless, irritable, drowsy, cheerful, 
or quiet; whether the appetite has been good, the quantity 
of food taken, the amount of sleep during the day or night ; 



524 FEMINOLOGY. 

whether there has been any nausea, twitching of muscles, 
or delirium; the frequency of the actions of bowels and 
kidneys, and the character of the excreta; any eruptions 
or rash on the skin; if there is any cough, and the char- 
acter of the expectoration when there is any. 

Good nursing is the secret of restoration to health. No 
physicians can feel assured of success unless he is certain 
the directions given are complied with. 

The administration of remedies is probably the most 
disagreeable feature to the patient, particularly if it be a 
child. And here the nurse must use tact, skill, finesse, 
firmness. All mixtures with unpleasant taste may be given 
with milk or water; a little to be swallowed before and 
after the dose. Powders may be given dry on the tongue 
with a little sugar, to be followed by a swallow of water. 
External applications are easier to be employed. Frequently, 
the physician directs their use for the purpose of increas- 
ing or diminishing the temperature of all or any part of 
the body; or to maintain moisture of any part; as counter- 
irritants ; or to make use of medicated preparations through 
absorption of the skin. These are employed in the form 
of hot or cold compresses, hot or cold packs, poultices, 
mustard plasters, or liniments, and medicated applications. 

In all cases where there is fever and heat enough to 
produce reaction, a general pack is advantageous. The 
patient in a bedgown is placed on a blanket, and the gown 
wet with a sponge dipped in tepid water. The blanket is 
wrapped closely about the person, a hot-water bottle placed 
to the feet, and moist cloths on the head which are to be 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 525 

changed to keep the head cool. Be sure that reaction has 
taken place, which will be known by perspiration coming 
out; then sponge and put on dry garments. No harm can 
come so long as chill is prevented. This is useful in scar- 
let and typhoid fevers, dysentery, or wherever febrile con- 
ditions exist. 

In cases where there is chill, a hot pack is used instead 
of the cold or tepid. A sheet is wrung out of water as 
hot as can be borne, wrapped about the nude body of the 
patient, and blankets, hot-water bottles, and comfortables 
used to create heat and perspiration. 

Hot and cold compresses are applied to certain afflicted 
parts of the body. These are cotton cloths wrung from 
hot or cold water, applied to the part, and covered with 
a waterproof fabric, to prevent the clothing from becoming 
damp. 

Poultices are made of a variety of materials, the most 
common being the cornmeal, flaxseed, and bread poultices, 
and are intended to supply heat and moisture to an afflicted 
part. They are made into a kind of mush, which, while 
hot, is spread on a piece of old linen or cotton the size 
desired. The more thickly spread, the longer the heat is 
retained, though the weight may be of some importance, 
as on the chest of a child afflicted with congested lungs. 
The poultice may be covered with a layer of net or cheese 
cloth, and when applied to the part, covered again with 
hot flannel. 

Mustard plasters are to be used as counter-irritants. 
If the mustard is strong, it should be mixed with an equal 



526 FEMINOLOGY. 

portion of. flour, moistened with water, and applied as are 
the poultices. 

A turpentine sioup is frequently used for the same pur- 
pose. It is made by wringing flannel from hot water and 
sprinkling turpentine over the flannel. It should he applied 
before there is time for the heat to leave it. The turpen- 
tine should be equally distributed over the flannel, using 
a half teaspoonful to the square foot of flannel. 

When stimulating liniments are used, much of the bene- 
fit to be derived therefrom is in the friction needed to apply 
them. Sometimes the friction is to be circular, sometimes 
upward and downward, sometimes in one direction only. 
On the chest and abdomen the circular movement is gen- 
erally best; on the back the friction should be upward and 
downward ; while on the limbs it should usually be upward. 
The liniment is poured into the palm slightly hollow, and 
applied by steady and gentle friction to the afflicted part. 

Medicated applications are placed directly to the skin, 
sometimes being painted on; sometimes made into lotions 
and ointments, and applied. 

In cases of contagious disease, there are many special 
precautions required to prevent the spread of the disease. 
All the care necessary for perfect sanitation must be rigidly 
observed here. In addition, the patient must be isolated, 
with those who nurse, and everything that leaves the room 
thoroughly disinfected. Disinfectants are substances that 
destroy infectious germs; antiseptics arrest putrefaction; 
deodorizers neutralize bad smells. These ought not be con- 
founded. 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 527 

Doors connected with other parts of the house must 
be covered with sheets of muslin long enough to cover all 
crevices, and which are wet with powerful disinfectants. 

The floor must be daily wiped with a cloth wrung from 
water to which a disinfectant has been added. Sulpho- 
naphthol is recommended as possessing strength and agree- 
ableness ; Formalin is now much in favor. 

A quantity of disinfectant solution must be kept in the 
sick-room in a vessel not metal. All dishes and cookery 
utensils in the sick-room must be washed in the disinfectant 
before being sent to the kitchen, where they should be 
scalded, to make assurance doubly sure. Most disinfecting 
solutions tarnish spoons, knives, and forks. Hence the 
scalding may be made to suffice for them. 

All towels, napkins, sheets, pillow-cases, handkerchiefs, 
and wearing apparel should be wet in the disinfectant for 
an hour, wrung out, and sent to the laundry before drying. 

The vessel for receiving excretions should be kept half 
or one third full of the disinfectant solution, and should 
not be emptied for at least a half hour after each use. This 
is especially important in cases like typhoid fever or cholera, 
where the germs of the malady are spread from the ex- 
cretions. 

In all diseases where there is expectoration, old pieces 
of clean muslin or linen should be at hand to receive the 
discharges, and which should at once be burned. This 
is better than using a cuspidor, although one containing 
the disinfectant may be used with safety. The patient 
should never spit on the floor. If this should happen, it 



528 FEMINOLOGY. 

should be at once washed away with the solution kept at 
hand for the purpose of disinfection. 

Any article of food or any drink after having stood 
in the sick-room should be destroyed to prevent any spread 
of the contagion. 

If the above recommendations are carried out, there 
only remains the scant possibility of infection through the 
passage of the nurse to and from the sick-room, In going 
and returning from her walks. No nurse should be con- 
fined more than six hours at a time without outdoor exer- 
cise, and she should also eat and sleep as regularly as 
possible. In order to afford the patient the most benefit, 
the health of the nurse must be kept in the best possible 
condition; for the wholesome influence of a calm, health- 
ful physique is communicable. 

Dr. Westland says, " As the nurse must leave the iso- 
lated rooms once or twice daily, for a walk and other neces- 
sary purposes, a washable dressing gown or other garment 
which is large enough to completely envelop her, should 
be placed just outside the isolated area; and this should 
be put on by the nurse each time she leaves the rooms, 
and put off before she enters them. When leaving the 
house for the daily walk, the enveloping garment should 
accompany her to the outside door of the house, and being 
left there, should be put on again on her return. Every 
nurse who is in constant attendance on a case of infec- 
tious disease, should be made to take a walk of at least 
an hour, daily. If this is not insisted upon, her health 
is exceedingly likely to fail, and she may break down 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 529 

entirely, at the critical period when her services may be 
in urgent request. 

" Before leaving the rooms, the nurse should wash her 
hands and face carefully in Condy's Fluid (or other mild 
disinfectant) and water, about one in twenty in strength, 
and immediately on leaving, should put on the enveloping 
dress mentioned above. She should walk straight out of 
the house, without stopping to speak with any one, and 
any conversation she may desire should take place after 
her return from the walk, before entering the invalid's 
rooms.' ' 

When the illness is over, the invalid may be taken in 
a bedgown to a room free from infection, — to the bath- 
room, when such convenience is possessed, — and given a 
complete bath in water to which carbolic acid or other 
mild disinfectant has been added. Then a completely fresh 
set of garments is put on, and the gown returned to the 
sick-room, which is, with its contents, subjected to thorough 
disinfection. 

All washable bedding must be wet with disinfectants 
and sent to the laundry. The pillows and mattress are left 
to be fumigated. 

Fumigation is often performed by local sanitary authori- 
ties; often they merely leave direction that it be done. Dr. 
Louis Starr recommends the following : — 

" Fumigate the sick-room as soon as the patient leaves 
it. To. do this, tightly close the room, and stuff all aper- 
tures, as keyholes, loose window sashes, spaces under doors, 
and so on, with cotton or rags. Then place a quantity of 
34 



530 FEMINOLOGY. 

roll sulphur (three pounds for every thousand cubic feet 
of space) broken into fragments in a saucer, standing 
either in a large iron kettle or supported by two bricks 
set in a tub partially filled with water. Next sprinkle a 
little alcohol over the sulphur and apply a live coal; as 
soon as combustion begins, leave the room, shutting the 
door of exit. The room must remain closed for at least 
twelve hours, and then be thoroughly aired." 

After the fumigation, the floor, all woodwork, and fur- 
niture should be washed with a disinfectant solution (as 
chloride of lime, one ounce to the pint, or carbolic acid, 
one dram to the pint). After that, they should be again 
scrubbed with soap and hot water. The walls and ceiling 
must be cleaned with a disinfectant solution; and, after 
having been aired several days, may be repapered and 
painted. This is essential after cases of scarlet fever or 
smallpox. 

Contagion (Latin Contagio — Con, with; tango, I 
touch) is the propagation of disease by actual contact; but 
it is now used in the more extended sense of " infection." 

Contagious matter is propagated to a greater distance 
in an impure than in a pure* atmosphere. Soiled articles 
of clothing and furniture also furnish media for the growth 
of disease germs. 

In crowded ships, barracks, and old jails the most viru- 
lent diseases have apparently had no other source than the 
foul emanations arising in overcrowded, unventilated spaces. 
The atmosphere of every sick chamber will contain, to a 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 



531 



great degree, unhealthy emanations; hence the importance 
of perfect ventilation. 

" The disease which takes its origin in the cellar of 
Lazarus, not infrequently establishes itself in the mansion 
of Dives." 

The following table may be convenient for the anxious 
mother to consult as to the time there is danger of infec- 
tion, after a child has been exposed to contagious disease : — 





STAGE 


DURATION 


PATIENT 


DISEASE 


OF 


OF DISEASE 


IS 




INCUBATION 


THEREAFTER 


INFECTIOUS. 


Chicken-pox 


12 to 19 days 


10 to 18 days 


Until scabs have all 
fallen 


Mumps 


8 to 21 days 


16 to 24 days 


From the time of ex- 
posure throughout 
the disease 


Measles 


12 days 


10 to 14 days 


During incubation 


Whooping 


7 to 14 days 


4 to & weeks 


From the time of ex- 


Cough 






posure throughout 
the disease 


Roseola 


6 to 21 days 


12 to 20 days 


From the stage of in- 
cubation 


Diphtheria 


2 to 6 days 


2 to 14 days 


Two weeks after mem- 
brane has disap- 
peared 


Scarlet Fever 


24 hours to 6 


2 to 7 days 


In all stages of the 




days 




disease, until scabs 
have all fallen 


Typhoid Fever 


14 to 21 days 


7 to 21 days 


Until diarrhea ceases 


Smallpox 


10 to 12 days 


7 to 14 days 


Until complete des- 
quamation 



The Pulse. — A full, strong, and frequent pulse during 
disease indicates extensive obstructions and an ardent effort 
of the vital force to overcome them. 



532 FEMINOLOGY. 

A frequent and small pulse shows depression, and is 
a bad sign, following the pulse just stated. 

A small, hard, and very frequent pulse is an indica- 
tion of internal hemorrhage. 

A small, quick, and frequent pulse occurs during nervous 
prostrations, and is unfavorable in low grades of fever. 

A strong, slow pulse usually accompanies congestion, 
such as apoplexy. 

An irregular pulse usually indicates a feeble condition 
of the heart; and irregularity associated with great fre- 
quency indicates a serious condition. 

The Breathing.— Slow breathing occurs in organic 
disease of the heart and in concussion of the brain or spine, 
and is a bad sign if, at the same time, the pulse becomes 
weak and the extremities cold ; although in temporary faint- 
ing, such a condition need cause no alarm. 

Slow and very full respirations may indicate pressure 
upon the brain, as in apoplexy. 

Feeble respirations are usually premonitions of death 
in typhoid and typhus fever, consumption, and other lin- 
gering diseases, especially if the pulse at the same time 
becomes feeble, frequent, and irregular. 

Labored breathing, where there is a great effort to 
get the breath, is caused by obstructions in the air pas- 
sages, by accumulations or altered conditions in the lungs, 
as in croup, asthma, etc. If inspiration is difficult, the 
obstruction is in the larynx. If expiration is difficult, the 
trouble lies in the bronchial tubes. 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 



533 



Snoring breathing in disease is unfavorable, as also is 
hiccough in lingering maladies. 

Difficult and painful breathing, accompanied by a 
smothering sensation, always indicates a disturbance of 
the circulation between the heart and lungs. Occurring 
temporarily from nervousness, it is of but little importance ; 
but when it is continuous in throat and lung troubles, it 
is bad. When breathing can be carried on only in a sitting 
posture, the heart is at fault, as a rule; though such con- 
dition in asthma is not to be considered serious. 

When, during respiration, the ribs move and the abdo- 
men remains stationary, diseases of the stomach, liver, or 
spleen, or peritonitis may be present. 

When the ribs remain stationary and the abdomen moves 
in breathing, pneumonia or pleurisy may be suspected. 

The Temperature. — The following table indicates the 
usual ratio of pulse, breathing, and temperature of the 
adult : — 



PULSATIONS 


RESPIRATIONS 


DEGREES FAHRENHEIT 


80 


18 


99 


88 


19+ 


IOO 


96 


21 + 


IOI 


104 


23 


I02 


112 


25- 


IO3 


120 


27 


IO4 


128 


28- 


I05 


136 


30 


I06 



As long as this harmony is maintained, there is less 
dread of serious consequences occurring, even though a 
temperature of 106 may be reached. But in proportion 



534 FEMINOLOGY. 

as harmony is broken, there is ground for fear of serious 
results. Thus, a temperature of 104 , with respiration at 
18, and the pulse at 136, would be a most serious departure 
from harmony. 

The Tongue. — A dry tongue denotes internal irrita- 
tion. It may be only temporarily dry, as in acute stomach 
irritation and diarrhea. But if it continues exceedingly 
dry, there is serious internal inflammation. 

The color of the tongue is important. A bluish tongue 
represents interference with respiration, as in heart dis- 
ease, asthma, etc. A scarlet tongue denotes acute inflam- 
mation, usually of the stomach, if red along the edges and 
at the tip. Redness along the center indicates intestinal 
irritation, and is an early sign in typhoid fever; if glassy, 
it is a very unfavorable indication. A " beefy " tongue 
usually occurs in chronic inflammation of the bowels, liver, 
kidney, or general mucous surfaces. 

A furred tongue occurs in nearly all fevers. If the 
fur is light and moist, simple irritation of the stomach is 
indicated. Heavy fur shows greater disturbance and a 
tendency to more serious trouble. Yellow fur indicates a 
liver derangement. Brown fur is always a bad indication, 
and the deeper the, color, the worse the omen; it points to 
nervous prostration and a tendency to putrefaction; when 
accompanied by dryness and fissures, a very grave con- 
dition is present. 

A trembling tongue indicates nervous prostration, and 
occurring during a tedious sickness is very unpromising. 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 535 

A clearing away of fur from the tongue is usually 
indicative of improvement. If the coating slowly disap- 
pears, commencing at the tip and edges, leaving a natural 
appearance, permanent recovery may be expected. If the 
fur comes away in patches, leaving a smooth, red surface, 
recovery will be slow. If the fur disappears rapidly, leav- 
ing a glossy or cracked surface, the sign is unfavorable. 

The Surface. — Coldness always indicates recession of 
the blood to internal organs; and the greater the degree 
and length of a cold surface, the more severe is liable to 
be the malady that follows. Chills and coldness in the 
latter stages of acute troubles are bad. A cold face, with 
a hot body, is unfavorable. A warm face with cold extremi- 
ties indicates brain trouble. Heat over the chest and upper 
portion of the back, with cold extremities, denotes lung 
trouble. A cold forehead is usually unfavorable, and a 
cold nose is not a good sign in acute troubles of any kind. 
One cheek hot and the other cold shows hectic or nervous 
fever. 

The color of the skin is important. A purplish hue 
shows interference with circulation through the lungs. In 
intermittent fevers and pneumonia, it is very bad; and at 
the close of any acute difficulty it is undesirable, though 
in asthma and typhus fever it is common. A livid appear- 
ance is unfavorable; and an almost black skin in eruptive 
diseases is bad. Yellowness indicates absorption of bile, 
and points to liver derangement. An ashy countenance 
indicates malignant difficulty, cancer, scrofula, Bright' s 



536 FEMINOLOGY. 

disease, etc. Paleness may be due to sudden nervous pros- 
tration, or to a deficiency of red blood corpuscles, as in 
dropsy, paralysis, etc. When paleness is accompanied by 
heat, it is unfavorable. Red spots upon pale cheeks sug- 
gest tubercular difficulties, though ordinary cases of worms 
may occasion them. Local redness may be occasioned by 
inflammation of adjacent organs, or by diseases of the skin. 
A clear red color to the skin is favorable, and a dark red 
unfavorable. 

Sweating. — A warm free perspiration, not too watery, 
is always favorable, especially following fever. Cold 
sweats indicate nervous prostration; and clammy and 
watery sweats are always unfavorable. 

The Countenance. — A quiet, peaceful countenance is 
favorable, unless it occurs suddenly, after long-continued 
pain. An indifferent expression, and fixed, bright eyes 
are bad. Contortions of the face indicate abdominal trou- 
ble. Paleness, with cold ears, a sharp nose, and sunken 
temples, constitutes what has been called the Hippocratic 
countenance, and is very unfavorable. Wrinkling of the 
forehead indicates brain trouble, as also do firmly contracted 
eyelids. A pinched nose, and rapid movements of the wings 
of the nose are unpromising. 

The Nerves. — Delirium is usually a bad sign, though 
it is to be expected during even slight fever in nervous 
children; and in all acute cases, delirium coming and going 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 537 

with the rise and fall of temperature, need not be regarded 
seriously. Delirium following hemorrhage or profuse 
sweating, accompanied with prostration and paleness, is 
bad. Furious delirium may occur during high fever, and 
a low muttering delirium (a serious thing) often occurs 
in low grades of fever. A quiet delirium, with sinking 
pulse, is bad; as also is the sudden cessation of delirium, 
with continued unnatural pulse and respirations. Quiet 
and natural sleep after delirium is always good. 

Pain. — A fixed pain denotes a derangement at one 
special point; and the sharper the pain, the deeper the seat 
of trouble. Continuous pain shows persistent obstruction, 
and a tendency to suppuration. Increase of pain by pres- 
sure indicates inflammation. In colic, neuralgia, and sim- 
ple irritation, pressure does not increase pain, but often 
diminishes it. Remitting pain is usually not unfavorable. 
Absence of pain in troubles that should be painful denotes 
pressure on the brain. The sudden abatement of pain, 
when other serious symptoms continue, is unfavorable. 

Restlessness. — Restlessness is unfavorable during acute 
troubles, except just before a critical discharge. General 
uneasiness precedes reaction of fever, and when long con- 
tinued, points to extensive obstruction. Anxiety about the 
heart during respiration indicates organic disease of that 
organ. A feeling of local anxiety after acute pain, points 
to suppuration; or in typhoid or nervous fevers, it pre- 
cedes great prostration. 



538 FEMINOLOGY. 

Sleep. — When sleep is- natural, it is encouraging, and 
should be obtained, if possible. Sleeplessness is unprom- 
ising, unless caused by local pains from difficulties not 
of themselves serious. Uneasiness in sleeping is bad; sud- 
denly waking soon after going to sleep may indicate heart 
troubles. Unusually long and heavy sleep indicates pres- 
sure on the brain. A very profound sleep, termed sopor, 
coma, or lethargy, is always bad, especially when it fol- 
lows convulsions or delirium. A very long, easy sleep 
after restlessness or pain, and during convalescence, is 
favorable. 

On the faithful discharge of the duty of nursing 
depends the successful termination of disease. Let no one 
whose family in any way becomes ill, fancy it depends 
entirely on the doctor's prescriptions. Medicines only 
assist the forces of nature to remove disease. But they 
must be administered as the powers of the body are able 
to make use of them, at regular intervals. The laws of 
nature work with order and precision, and any disturbance 
by irregularity prevents her perfect work. 

Following are a few points to be observed by those 
who visit the sick : — 

Never venture into a sick-room when warm and per- 
spiring, if it is the intention to remain for a time. As 
soon as the body becomes cool, it is in a fit state to receive 
the disease. 

Never visit the sick when tired and hungry. The run- 
down condition of the body makes it easy to take on the 
infection. 



HINTS ON NURSING THE SICK. 



539 



Do not visit the sick-room before it has been cleaned 
and aired in the morning. The air is certainly more impreg- 
nated with the germs of impurity and disease at that time 
than any other. 

After a visit to the sick-room, some food should be 
taken, and the clothing changed and exposed to the air 
for some time. 

It is often difficult to keep the air in a fit state during 
the night, on account of the night light used. Kerosene, 
gas, — in fact, all artificial lights, except electric lamps, — 
contaminate the atmosphere of the room more or less. 
Candles are recommended as being least offensive; or 
a kerosene lamp may be used, by a simple contrivance. 
Procure a packing box of suitable size, and fasten securely 
outside of one of the sick-room windows, with the open 
side to the room. Into this the lamp may be placed at 
night, furnishing as much light as is needed for ordinary 
cases of night nursing. If the box is not too open, the 
light will not succumb to drafts, and will burn as steadily 
as if inside. 

Bread Poultice. — Soak light wheat bread in sweet milk. 

Beet Poultice. — Scrape a beet fresh from the garden. 

Carrot Poultice. — Boil until soft, mash, and spread 
on cheese cloth. 



Linseed Poultice. — Scald the vessel in which it is to 
be made. Pour in boiling water, and add slowly sufficient 



540 FEMIN0L0GY. 

linseed meal to form a thick paste; stir in one way, until 
smooth; then spread on linen or muslin, and apply. It 
should not be allowed to get cold before replacing with 
another. 

Cornmeal Poultice. — Excellent to reduce inflammation. 
For a large poultice, take one quart yellow cornmeal, J4 
pound red pepper, and % pound mustard. Mix with boil- 
ing water. Spread on muslin and apply. This will hold 
heat longer than any other poultice. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 

Many unforeseen occurrences take place that demand 
immediate action, and which must be met with collected 
thoughts. For this reason, every person old enough to 
think for himself should be made acquainted with methods 
suitable for each probable case of emergency. Following 
are some of the exigencies occasionally to be handled : — 

Fire; To Escape from a Burning Building. — At the 
first alarm, it is necessary to think before acting. If in 
bed at the time, dress if possible, and wrap a blanket or 
piece of carpet over all. Remember the places of exit, 
and try to find the same. No more doors should be opened 
than necessary, and each door closed immediately. This 
prevents drafts. Smoke always follows drafts, and fire 
follows smoke. 

There is always eight to twelve inches of pure air close 
to the floor; when impossible to walk through the smoke, 
drop to the hands and knees, with the face close to the 
floor. A wetted flannel or silk handkerchief may be bound 
over the nose and mouth, to exclude the smoke, while 
allowing breathing. On no account should escape be 
attempted by jumping from the window, unless the fire- 
men urge it, and have a net spread to break the fall. If 

54i 



542 



FEMINOLOGY. 



escape is cut off, get into a front room, with the doors 
closed; tie the sheets and bed covers together, fasten them 
to some heavy piece of furniture, and go down the impro- 
vised fire escape, hand over hand. The foregoing applies, 
of course, only to individual escape. Where there are 
helpless invalids or children, they should be rescued 
first. 

Clothing on Fire. — Women and children are oftenest 
sufferers from this accident, owing to their voluminous 
robes. When this occurs, it should be remembered that 
an upright position not only encourages the spread of the 
flames, but is the more dangerous on account of the lia- 
bility to burn the neck and head, and to inhale the heat. 
The one so endangered should lie down on the floor or 
ground, and attempt to smother the flames by rolling over 
and over. Or, when alone, take a blanket or rug, or coat, 
or whatever woolen thing is nearest at hand, and wrap 
about the flame. Should this danger occur to a child, he 
should be prevented from running about, and the flame 
smothered as quickly as possible, with whatever woolen is 
nearest. Or a heavy covering of any kind may be wrapped 
about the sufferer, and saturated with water. 

To Dress Burns or Scalds. — A burn or scald is dan- 
gerous according to its extent, depth, and location. A 
burn of any extent deprives the body of so much excre- 
tory surface. It is said if one eighth of the surface of the 
body is burned, life is in danger, and especially so if the 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 543 

burn is deep. A burn or scald on the body is more dan- 
gerous than on the face or extremities. 

Nothing is usually more easily obtained at once than 
flour. It may be applied thickly to the afflicted part, and 
held in place by strips of old muslin or linen. The air 
is thereby excluded and relief is felt. If the burn is but 
superficial, no further treatment is needed. Lard, olive 
oil, and linseed oil are also very efficacious in dressing burns 
or scalds. In case of severe burns, these dressings may 
be but temporary, pending the physician's arrival. There- 
after he will direct as to the kind and frequency of dress- 
ing and the diet needful to sustain and upbuild the system 
during the strain. 

Where scalds occur, the clothing should be cut away, 
and if any part adheres, cut around it. Quickly apply a 
dressing of flour, or lard, or egg, or whatever is nearest 
at hand, to exclude the air. Later, a dressing may be pre- 
pared by mixing a little lime water in linseed oil, adding 
to it carbolic acid in the proportion of one part to thirty of 
the oil. Clean linen is saturated with the mixture, and 
applied to the scald; and whenever dry, should be made 
moist again. With this treatment, the formation of pus 
is prevented by the disinfecting power of the carbolic acid, 
and the new cuticle will form without unsightly scars. 

Another dressing is made of glycerine, arnica, and 
white of egg, in the proportion of five ounces, three ounces, 
and four ounces, respectively. This mixture may be applied 
night and morning, after washing the afflicted part with 
tepid castile soapsuds. 



544 FEMINOLOGY. 

Should the patient complain of faintness, some brandy 
and water may be given; and if the extremities become 
cold, hot-water bottles may be applied, when those parts 
are not afflicted by the burns. In an extensive burn, the 
patient may be placed in a full bath, and the temperature 
raised until he is comfortably warm. And, wherever pos- 
sible to keep an even temperature, the patient may live 
in the bath for some days. The nurse will see to keeping 
the water purified by an inflowing and outflowing current, 
during the day or night. 

When the first dressing is removed, the character of 
the injury may be seen, and future dressings determined 
from that. In all cases, keep the patient warm and well 
nourished. 

For slight burns, submerge the part in cold water, and 
keep it there until the inflammation is reduced. If this 
is too trying to patience, apply lard, vaseline, flour, etc., 
as above mentioned. 

Suspended Animation. — This state may be the result 
of apparent drowning, inhaling noxious gases, intense 
cold, or drunkenness. 

To resuscitate one apparently drowned, movements 
should be quick and decisive. The successful and well- 
known Silvester method is as follows: — 

i. The body being laid on its back, a firm cushion or 
some similar support should be placed under the shoul- 
ders, the head being kept in line with the trunk. The 
tongue should be drawn forward, so as to project a little 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 545 

from the side of the mouth; then the arms should be 
grasped by the elbows and raised and lowered as often as 
twelve or fourteen times per minute, and be frequently 
followed by pressure on the lower part of the chest, to 
force the air and water from the lungs. Two operators 
can best accomplish the restoration of breathing, as above. 

2. As soon as natural breathing is established, discon- 
tinue the artificial means, unless the efforts are feeble and 
imperfect. 

3. Maintain the temperature of the body by friction, 
warm blankets, warm bath, or hot applications, keeping 
the head where there may be a circulation of pure air. 

4. As soon as the patient can swallow, give warm milk, 
beef tea, tea, or coffee with a tablespoonful of some spirits ; 
or these may be injected by means of the stomach pump. 

5. When respiration is restored, put the patient in a 
warm bed, with hot-water bottles to his feet, and encourage 
sleep. But he should be watched, and at the first indica- 
tion of relapse, friction and stimulants, and even the arti- 
ficial respiration, must be employed. 

Another method to induce respiration in case of drown- 
ing, is to place the patient face downward, with an arm 
under the forehead. Some folded article is placed under 
the chest, with the ends in either hand, and with the assist- 
ance of this, the body is turned to one side and back about 
fifteen times to the minute. An assistant should keep the 
mouth and nostrils free from the fluids and froth. By 
placing the patient on his chest, the air is forced out of 
the lungs, and when turned on the side, the air enters the 
35 



546 FEMINOLOGY. 

vacuum. All efforts at restoring animation should be con- 
tinuous for at least twelve hours, if not previously suc- 
cessful. It is a mistake to allow efforts to flag because 
life does not return at once. 

Drowning may often be prevented by self-possession. 
The buoyant powers of water are great, the average human 
body only affording about a pound of resistance. When 
one cannot swim, he should not attempt to raise the body 
from the water, but be passive, while waiting for aid. A 
chair, or a stool, or block of wood will enable a person 
clinging to it, to keep mouth and nose out of the water, 
during a wreck. 

A rescuer who is a strong swimmer may save a person 
from sinking, by grasping an arm between the shoulder 
and elbow, and striking out with the other arm for the boat 
or shore. This will prevent the swimmer from being 
grasped and pulled down by the sinking one. 

Where a person has been rescued from an atmosphere 
of escaping fuel or illuminating gas, choke damp, or chloro- 
form, or ether vapors, elevate the extremities, remove all 
tight articles of clothing from chest and neck, and apply 
the Silvester method of restoring consciousness, as in case 
of apparent drowning. 

In case of suspended animation from intense cold, rub 
the body with snow, or ice water, and restore warmth by 
degrees. If breathing does not begin after five or ten min- 
utes of the friction, employ the artificial respiration above 
mentioned. 

Apparent death from drunkenness may be treated in 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 547 

much the same manner. Raise the head, loosen the cloth- 
ing, rub the body, and as soon as the person can swallow, 
an emetic of salt and mustard may be administered. 

Sunstroke occurs during hot weather from overexer- 
tion, or intemperate habits. It often occurs in the street 
where the person is seen to fall unconscious. To resusci- 
tate, the person should be taken into the shade, and placed 
in a sitting posture. As soon as possible, procure ice 
water, and apply to the head continuously, and force the 
patient to swallow some stimulant or essence of ginger. 
Rub the spine, neck, and head, making downward strokes, 
to draw the blood from the brain. Remove the patient 
as soon as may be, to a bed, and let the head rest on a 
bag of ice, while chafing the extremities. The treatment 
should be kept up till consciousness is regained, or the 
doctor arrives to takes charge of the case, or until it is 
plain that recovery cannot be. 

To prevent sunstroke, avoid using alcoholics, avoid 
overexertion, and have regular hours for eating and sleep- 
ing; and the daily morning bath must not be neglected. 
Those who must work or travel in the heat of the day 
should wear light, broad-brimmed hats containing a damp 
sponge, or handkerchief, which should be cooled occa- 
sionally. 

Apoplexy receives the same treatment. 

Fainting is not an uncommon occurrence among persons 
in delicate health, the philosophy of which is that the heart 
does not send a sufficient supply of blood to the brain. In 
contrast with treating apoplexy or sunstroke, the patient 



548 FEMINOLOGY. 

should be laid flat on the back, in a place where there is 
abundance of fresh air. Loosen the clothing, rub the 
extremities, and apply smelling salts, camphor, or ammonia 
to the nostrils. Often it is only necessary to remove the 
patient to the fresh air and lay him on the back. 

Cramp. — This is an involuntary contraction of some of 
the muscles, and is accompanied by great pain. It usually 
occurs after some unusual exertion. The part should be 
rubbed vigorously for a time with the hand, either with or 
without stimulating liniment. 

Cramp that comes on during sea-bathing should be met 
with self-possession. The affected leg or arm thrown sud- 
denly and as violently as possible out of the water will gen- 
erally remove the cramp, and the person should try to reach 
the shore as soon as possible. 

Cramp in the stomach or bowels will be cured by hot 
applications. . 

A common cause for cramp may be found in indigestion. 

Stings from Insects. — Children are more frequent suf- 
ferers than adults. Whenever possible, the sting should be 
removed, and the parts bathed in spirits of ammonia, which 
is the most efficacious remedy known for this emergency. 
When not at hand, a paste may be made of baking soda and 
water, and applied to the wound; or olive oil is good; and 
also a flour paste. If the wound be sucked after the sting is 
removed, very little inflammation will follow. If the sting 
produces great pain, apply a flaxseed poultice. 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 549 

Mad-dog Bites. — If the wound occurs on the extrem- 
ities, a ligature or tight cord should be at once bound 
between the wound and the heart. Then the afflicted part 
should have the poison sucked out; there is no danger con- 
nected therewith unless a sore or cut exists on the lips or in 
the mouth. It is in the circulation of the blood the danger 
lies. Where it is possible to get water at once, make a mud 
poultice, and apply to the wound until a caustic may be 
obtained. Then wash the part thoroughly, and cauterize 
freely with nitrate of silver. The physician should be 
secured as quickly as possible after the accident. The ani- 
mal should be kept in confinement until it is ascertained 
whether it is or not afflicted with hydrophobia. 

Bites from Poisonous Serpents. — The same precautions 
must be taken to prevent the poison from circulating through 
the system as with mad-dog bites. The ligatures should be 
bound very tight between the wound and the heart; the 
wound sucked, caustics applied, and stimulants administered. 
The person bitten can drink from one to three pints of 
whisky or brandy, the effectiveness being enhanced by the 
addition of four to six teaspoonfuls of water of ammonia to 
the pint. 

Or, where there is sufficient courage to undertake it, the 
central part of the wound may be cut out, or cut into freely 
to induce free bleeding. After the poison is extracted, there 
is usually nervous reaction, and the system needs nourish- 
ing food to upbuild. 

Capt. Jack Crawford, for years a noted Western char- 



550 FEMIN0L0GY. 

acter, makes the statement that he has extracted the poison 
from a rattlesnake bite by pressing the mouth of a bottle 
of turpentine against the wound. The poison was drawn 
upward into the turpentine. The remedy is simple; but 
unless one felt certain of its being a sure cure, more vig- 
orous methods are apt to be tried. 

Bruises. — In playing, children are apt to receive such 
injuries, which take the form of a discolored swelling. To 
relieve the pain, prevent discoloration and swelling, it should 
at once be treated. Both the swelling and discoloration 
come from the rupture of small blood vessels, and the blood 
oozing therefrom. Any hot or cold application used imme- 
diately contracts the blood vessel, preventing the escape of 
the blood. Heat and cold have the same effect. The escaped 
blood undergoes changes which makes the bruise succes- 
sively blue, bluish-green, green and yellow; and at last 
returns to the normal color. The absorption of the escaped 
blood may be facilitated by applying vaseline, or olive oil 
twice daily. 

When the bruise is treated immediately, use either a hot 
or cold compress, which may be wet with arnica or witch- 
hazel extract. 

Sometimes a child, in falling, strikes his head, and is 
stunned. In which case all clothing should be loosened and 
the little one laid on his back. The face may be bathed with 
cool water; in all probability he will soon recover. Should 
paleness and vomiting follow, the physician would better be 
called; often such fall is the origin of convulsions. 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 551 

Cuts or Lacerations. — These accidents are dangerous 
when they sever one or more of the larger blood vessels. In 
the case of a slight cut or tear, the part may be held in a 
basin of tepid water while a dressing is being prepared. 
This washes away any impurity, and leaves the part in con- 
dition for healthy healing. A small pad of clean muslin or 
linen may be folded and placed against the wound and held 
securely by a narrow bandage. If there is much pain, 
arnica may be frequently applied to keep the bandage moist. 

It is a mistake to cover any wound so thickly with a 
bandage that a great quantity of blood may escape before it 
can be seen on the outside. It may always be assumed that 
if the pressure of a small pad is insufficient to arrest the flow 
of blood, no greater amount of bandaging will accomplish it. 

A laceration is usually caused by some blunt instrument, 
as a nail or broken dish. In cleansing such a wound, tepid 
water poured over it from a height of eight to twelve inches 
removes the dirt. It should be gently dried by patting the 
surface with a soft napkin or towel, and dressed with car- 
bolated vaseline. 

An abrasion often occurs from a fall on some hard, 
rough surface like the dry earth. It may be cleansed with 
tepid water and anointed with carbolated vaseline. 

Severe wounds, from whatever cause, which occasion 
excessive bleeding must be promptly treated, or the great 
loss of blood will cause death. The distinction between the 
arterial blood and venous blood is necessary to be known in 
order to arrest the flow. Blood from an artery is bright 
red, and escapes in spurts or jets; blood from a vein comes 



552 FEMINOLOGY. 

in a steady trickling flow, and is of a bluish red ; blood from 
the capillaries oozes from many divided points. 

If a large artery is divided, place a finger immediately 
above the wound, between that and the heart; if it is a 
limb that is injured, it should be elevated, and the patient 
kept quiet. The surgeon should be sent for at once. A 
tourniquet should be made while the artery is being held, 
in order to relieve the person so on duty. To make one, a 
square piece of cloth is needed. This is held cornerwise and 
twisted, and a hard knot tied in the middle. Place the knot 
over the artery between the wound and the heart ; bring the 
ends around the limb and tie loosely ; place a stick under the 
last tie, and twist until the end of the artery is closed, and 
the finger pressure can be removed. 

Having the bleeding arrested, the patient must be kept 
quiet. Hot-water bottles should be placed to the feet ; and 
some nourishing drink may be administered. It is espe- 
cially to be recommended that the patient take all the water 
possible. The doctor will arrange further dressing. 

A small artery or vein can usually be dressed without 
the surgeon, if one has some knowledge and a great deal 
of fortitude and self-control. Proceed as follows — 

Elevate the part wounded, and with a stream of water 
wash off dirt and clots. At first the stream may be what is 
bearable to the flesh ordinarily, but it must be gradually 
increased up to 120 or 130 F. After the hot water has 
been used freely, expose to the air; this favors contrac- 
tion and coagulation. Then place against the wound a 
pad from a half inch to an inch in thickness, and of a com- 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 553 

fortable size to cover the wound; hold in place by a band- 
age not more than two inches wide. 

It should be remembered that nature performs her own 
cures. The only object in dressings is to protect the wound 
from air and impurities, and in cuts to keep the parts 
together. Ointments keep the afflicted parts soft, and, when 
carbolized, lessen the tendency to putrefaction. 

Slight cuts that do not need a second dressing may be 
held together by small strips of adhesive plaster. 

Severe cuts often need the surgeon to make stitches to 
hold the parts together, until the process of healing is 
complete. 

Nosebleed. — This kind of hemorrhage is often serious, 
but in some cases it should not be checked at once. Like 
diarrhea, it is often beneficial, especially in a case of pleth- 
ora. But in a weakly person, child or adult, all the blood 
of the system is needed. 

To check the flow, the patient should sit upright in a 
chair, hold a sponge to the nose, and breathe through the 
mouth. Do not bend forward, unless one is waiting on 
one's self, and then only in necessity. Often it is only neces- 
sary to bathe the face in cool water. Ice may be applied to 
the nose, middle of the forehead, or back of the neck. Press 
upon the small arteries near the wings of the nose ; or, with 
thumb and finger make pressure on the root of the nose 
(between the eyes). 

Hot footbaths are successful in some cases, by calling 
the blood from the head. 



554 FEMINOLOGY. 

All other methods failing, the nostrils should be plugged 
with cones of cotton or lint, either dry or saturated with 
alum and hot water. The patient should remain very quiet 
thereafter. The cones may be removed after twenty-four 
or forty-eight hours, according to the strength of the 
patient. When of frequent occurrence, medical attention 
should be had. 

Sprains. — A sudden irregular movement, or fall, may 
stretch, or twist, or tear the ligaments about the joints. 
Generally the other surrounding tissues are injured, and 
some of the small blood vessels ruptured. 

If the sprain is in an ankle or knee, the part should be 
bathed as in treating a bruise ; a pillow may be placed in a 
chair, and the patient, seated in another, should extend the 
injured member upon the pillow. Then a compress may 
be applied, and the leg and pillow bound together, with 
moderate tightness. There is more or less inflammation 
with any sprain. In slight sprains, when recovery does not 
ensue within a few days, the physician's advice should be 
sought. In severe sprains, the patient should be placed in 
bed; recovery depends on allowing the injured member com- 
plete rest. This needs the surgeon's attention as much as 
a broken bone. 

Where a wrist or elbow is sprained, the patient may lie 
with the injured arm upon a pillow; or, when not too severe, 
may go about with it in a sling. Soreness may be lessened 
and removed by frequent applications of arnica, or witch- 
hazel extract. 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 555 

When it becomes possible to exercise the injured mem- 
ber, light movements should be practiced to prevent per- 
manent stiffness. 

Broken Bones, or Fractures. — The breaking of the 
bones may vary from the simple fracture, where the bone 
only is broken, to the complicated, compound, or com- 
minuted fractures; where the broken bone is combined 
with a lesion of an artery, nerve trunk, or joint; where 
the fracture has a wound opening to the surface; or where 
the bone is splintered. This accident, or emergency, occurs 
most often in the limbs. The breaking is denoted by 
bending of the limb in an unusual place, or by twisting or 
shortening. 

The assistance of more than one person is needed. Let 
the patient for the time being rest where he is; and send 
for the surgeon at once. Meantime one person should gently 
cut away the clothing; another may seize the arm or leg 
below the break, and pull firmly but mildly until the member 
reaches its full length. It should be held in this position, 
as it will ease the patient, pull the bone fragments from the 
surrounding flesh, and prevent painful muscular contrac- 
tions. A temporary splint dressing may be improvised in 
order to remove the patient to his bed. This may be of 
lath, or shingle, or even straw. A pad should be placed 
above and below the fracture and the splints secured above 
and below the break with cord, or whatever is nearest at 
hand. The person holding, or pulling, the injured member 
may then release it ; and the afflicted one can be taken home. 



556 FEMINOLOGY. 

The bed to be used must be firm. Wherever springs or 
feathers are used, they should be removed, and the bed made 
ready with just the mattress, sheets, and bed covers. 

The surgeon will see that the bones are properly set, and 
to the dressing; but as keeping the parts in proper position 
demands skill, he should be retained until the broken parts 
are healed. A broken bone can never, of course, be made 
as good as one not injured. Often nurses yield to the fret- 
fulness of the patient and allow him to meddle with the 
afflicted part. When this occurs, healing will be imperfect 
in some way, often resulting in deformity. 

Damp or Chill. — It sometimes occurs that one is exposed 
to a storm or is made wet by accident. So long as there is 
sufficient muscular exertion to prevent sensations of chilli- 
ness, there is no danger; but the exercise should not cease 
until the person has reached a shelter where it is possible 
to change the damp clothing. Then the body should be 
rubbed thoroughly with a rough, dry towel until a glow is 
felt over the surface, and dry clothing put on. Where 
chill has been unavoidable, as soon as the person reaches his 
home, or any place of refuge, preparations must be made at 
once to bring on reaction. This may be induced by remov- 
ing the clothing, rubbing the body dry, putting on a sleep- 
ing robe, and going to bed. Hot-water bottles may be 
placed to the feet and about the body. No one should allow 
efforts to bring out perspiration to cease. Should the chill 
be prolonged, hot water, or hot teas, should be taken every 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 557 

quarter or half hour. Only by such perseverance may a 
sick spell be averted. 

Poisoning. — In all cases of poisoning, summon a phy- 
sician immediately. Then set to work to empty the stomach, 
which may be done by an emetic or by the doctor's stomach 
pump. As an emetic, ground mustard is always safe, using 
one tablespoonful to the pint of water. Let the patient 
swallow half, then in fifteen minutes the other half, unless 
vomiting ensues. Tepid or warm water is best, as it opens 
the pores of the skin, affording another avenue of escape 
for the poison. Continue the drinking of water for some 
time after vomiting begins, thoroughly washing the stom- 
ach. Should pain in the bowels occur, it indicates that 
at least part of the poison has reached the intestine. In 
which case use copious injections of warm water, repeat- 
edly. The object in using water so freely is to dilute the 
poison before it can permeate the system. It has been found 
that almost any poison can be so diluted with water as to 
render it practically inoffensive. 

Some poisons induce free vomiting, some cause intense 
pain, while others produce drowsiness. In cases of drowsi- 
ness the patient must be kept awake. To do so keep him 
walking, slap him smartly between the shoulders, pour cold 
water over the head, until the doctor comes. 

Nearly every poison has its antidote, and where it is 
known what poison has been taken, the antidote should be 
administered as soon as may be. 



558 FEMINOLOGY. 

Where acids or alkalis have been taken, something 
should be administered at once to neutralize their effects on 
the lining of the stomach. 

Vinegar or lemon juice should be given when ammonia, 
potash, lye, or soda have been taken in too large quantities. 
This should be followed by milk, cream, oil, or flaxseed tea. 

In case of sulphuric, muriatic, nitric, or oxalic acids, 
calcined magnesia, chalk, or soapsuds may be administered. 

Every second of time is valuable in cases of poisoning, 
even though the doctor has been called. 

Foreign Bodies in the Throat. — Children, occasionally 
adults, frequently experience this accident. Sometimes a 
large, unchewed mass of food lodges in the esophagus, and 
by pressing upon the windpipe disturbs breathing. Children 
often swallow coins, or buttons, or metallic substances, or 
a fish bone. Sometimes a quick breath draws some foreign 
body into the windpipe, which makes a more serious affair. 
Whenever choking occurs from any substance in the wind- 
pipe, the best means of dislodgment is to invert the person. 
A child may be held by the legs head downward, and slapped 
across the shoulders. Unless the case is critical, it will be 
removed. 

Any substance that cannot be forced down into the 
stomach when lodged in the gullet must be removed through 
the mouth. Tickling the throat to induce vomiting is often 
beneficial. Or, if the lodgment is in the pharynx, some one 
should insert a finger and thumb, and try to bring it for- 
ward. A piece of dry bread should be chewed and swal- 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 559 

Lowed, which will often carry with it what has been lodged. 
Fine fish bones are usually removed in that way. 

A drink of water will often enable what has lodged in 
the esophagus to reach the stomach. 

The obstruction must be overcome as soon as possible. 
All simple measures having failed, the person should be 
taken to the doctor immediately. 

Foreign bodies passing directly to the stomach, such 
as buttons or coins, occasion very little disturbance. They 
are passed with other indigestible substances through the 
digestive tract, and are voided through the rectum. Lax- 
ative medicines are not needed, unless constipation is pro- 
nounced. Then the lower bowel should be cleansed by an 
enema of warm water, and the medicine administered. By 
so doing there is a better chance for the substance to pass 
from the body quickly, leaving no time for an irritation to 
be set up. 

Sharp-pointed bodies, like pins or needles, are more dan- 
gerous to the internal organism. In cases where these have 
been swallowed, liquids should be partaken sparingly, and 
foods containing large proportions of residuum eaten abun- 
dantly. This will enable the matter which must be thrown 
out as waste to carry with it the offending body, and pre- 
vent injury to the digestive canal by pricking. Instances 
are mentioned where needles have passed into the circula- 
tion and been imbedded in muscular tissues, afterward to 
be thrown out in the form of an eruption or boil. 

Broken glass is sometimes swallowed by children. The 
treatment is the same as above for pins and needles. Pur- 






560 FEMINOLOGY. 

gatives must be avoided in either case. The increased 
activity thereby caused might drive a point into the lining 
membrane of the bowel, and cause ulceration and even 
death. 

Foreign Bodies in the Ear. — Anything entering the 
auditory canal must never be poked and prodded to remove 
it. The head must be leaned toward the affected side, and 
the external ear pulled upward and backward to straighten 
the canal. A blow on the uppermost side of the head, not 
too hard, will cause the body to drop out if it is not too 
large. 

A substance like a pea or bean which children sometimes 
push into the ear should be removed at once; as by absorb- 
ing moisture it increases in size, and removal becomes more 
difficult. If it cannot be removed by the above method, the 
child should be taken to the physician, whose delicate instru- 
ments will remove it. 

An insect will occasionally enter the auditory canal, and 
cause extreme pain. The person should lie down with the 
afflicted side of the head uppermost, and have the canal filled 
with warm lard or sweet oil. The outside ear should be 
pulled upward and backward, and the oil poured from a 
teaspoon into the canal. This will bear out the living thing, 
and procure relief. 

Foreign Bodies in the Nose. — All substances that have 
been pushed up the nostril can usually be removed by closing 
the opposite nostril, and blowing the nose forcibly. Or, 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 561 

if there is a lodgment in both nostrils, a deep inspiration 
may be taken through the mouth, and blown through the 
nose. Should this fail, it is better to consult the physician 
than to use persistent force. A blood vessel might be rup- 
tured. Anything remaining long will cause irritation and 
inflammation. 

Foreign Bodies in the Eye. — The eye is so delicate and 
sensitive that even a fleck of dust will cause discomfort. 
Such particles as dust or cinders often are blown into 
the eyes. Usually they adhere to the inner surface of the 
upper eyelid, and cause pain with every movement, as in 
batting the eyes. In occasional instances the offending par- 
ticle may be imbedded in the surface of the eyeball, or 
clinging to the inner surface of the lower eyelid. 

The afflicted person can make known the location. If 
on the lower lid, it is quite an easy matter to pull it down 
and investigate. If the particle is seen, it may be removed 
with a corner of a soft handkerchief. 

To examine the upper eyelid what is known as eversion 
may be performed. The eyelid is dried and pressure made 
upon it with a slender pencil just under the eyebrow. This 
causes the margin of the eyelid to project so that it can be 
caught by a few lashes, and turned back over the pencil. 
The eyeball should be rolled downward and about until the 
particle is discovered ; when a tiny soft brush or soft hand- 
kerchief will remove it, if it is loose. The eyelid is very 
easily replaced afterward. 

Another method of removal is to draw the upper eyelid 
36 



562 FEMINOLOGY. 

well over the lower lashes. In this way the lashes act as a 
brush to the inner surface of the upper lid. Any irritation 
resulting from the presence of foreign particles and their 
removal may be eased by frequent applications of hot water. 

When a particle has become imbedded in the eyeball, a 
surgeon's delicate and educated skill is required. 

When much inflammation results, light must be excluded 
for a time. 

A Medicine Chest. — Every family should have its med- 
icine chest, which should be kept locked or out of the reach 
of the busy fingers which are constantly in quest of knowl- 
edge and experience. Very frequently the newspapers 
relate the taking off of somebody's child through having 
tasted or smelled something it should not. 

The afflictions of childhood from bruises, cuts, burns, 
etc., are numerous, and it is very convenient for the mother 
to have such things at hand as will relieve and assist the 
healing process; for in the large majority of American 
families the mother is the nurse, cook, housekeeper, sewing 
woman, laundress, scrub woman, etc., her profession 
embracing something of all women's trades. But as the 
custodian of family health, she fills the most important 
place, or position. 

Emergencies are bound to come in almost every life, and 
the mother who allows her medicine chest to be empty is 
guilty of a crime against the well-being of her family. 

Among the things needful for family emergencies 
are: — 



SOME EMERGENCIES AND ACCIDENTS. 563 

A bottle of arnica. 

A jar of mustard. 

Some stimulants, as camphor, ammonia. 

Vaseline or olive oil. 

Some adhesive plaster. 

A few prepared bandages. 

Ordinary needles and thread. 

A mild disinfectant. 

One or more hot-water bottles. 

Many families have been reared to maturity without 
further medical attendance than the " ounce of prevention " 
administered by a wise mother. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

CARE OF THE PERSON. 

One whose thoughts are filled with the affairs of life 
to the exclusion of needful attentions to the body will find 
that body becoming worn, ugly, and untidy ; as a house 
without a housekeeper, or a garden without a gardener. A 
house in constant use needs almost unceasing care from the 
housekeeper and her assistants. Without daily cleansing, 
airing, sweeping, putting to rights, etc., it would soon 
become uninhabitable. A garden in which good seeds have 
been sown demands care. No matter how hardy or how 
fine the plants may be, a few weeks of neglect would develop 
a choked and tangled mass of weeds. 

Many functions of the body work without care from 
the intelligence, but all work to best advantage when given 
the needful supervision. 

As the nearest possessions, capable of being used in all 
avenues for improving the soul, or self, occupying it, the 
body should certainly receive conscientious care. For the 
body is not the individual, but the material form through 
which individuality gives and receives impressions. A most 
intimate relation must exist between the intelligence and 
the house it occupies; but none who can reason will doubt 
as to which should control. 

The intelligence is supplied with an instrument, or a 
564 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 565 

system, through which impressions and thoughts find expres- 
sion. There are substations, called nerve centers, which 
control certain functions of the body without immediate 
direction of the mind. Also certain other nerve centers, 
which, after receiving a mental impression to act, will con- 
tinue the action as opportunity comes unless directed other- 
wise. Through these ganglia are established what are called 
habits, which some people assert get beyond the control of 
the intelligence. In making such acknowledgment a per- 
son asserts, " I am weak ; too weak to control the machine 
through which I must express myself to my fellow-crea- 
tures." 

The demands of life require a body harmoniously 
developed; one in which each organ or system co-ordi- 
nates with others, all being equally healthy and strong. 

While the physical structure is composed of several 
systems, each in itself complete, they are interdependent, 
and will rarely act in complete harmony, unless some spe- 
cial attention is given daily to the body itself. 

This perfectly adjusted machine must be supplied with 
pure air, pure water, and pure food for fuel; and the ave- 
nues for throwing out the necessary waste must be kept 
clean and free to act. Else it must become clogged and 
worn. 

In treating of the care of the body it is difficult to deter- 
mine which part needs most attention. Neglect of one 
part means overwork for another; and overwork, if made 
constant, means a breaking down of the organ, or system, 
imposed upon. 



566 FEMINOLOGY. 

But, as the covering of the body is nearest the grime 
of every day life, it may be considered as being one of the 
most important parts to receive attention. 

Care of the Skin. — The chief function of the skin is 
as the protecting covering of the body. Through it the 
sense of touch is exercised, the temperature of the body 
is regulated, and effete fluids are eliminated. It contains 
the perspiratory and sebaceous glands; the former for the 
regulation of body heat, the latter for the preservation of 
the skin itself. 

There are two layers of skin, called the dermis and 
epidermis, or cutis and cuticle, which blend together, the 
former being most internal. Each blending has a physio- 
logical name, but for present purposes they are not needed. 

The cuticle consists of layers of flat, dry scales, poly- 
hedral in form, which are constantly worn off and replaced 
by layers beneath. It is always thickest where most pres- 
sure is applied; as on the soles of the feet and palms of 
the hands. 

In cases of scalds or in scarlet fever, when large portions 
of the cuticle come off, it will be restored by growth from 
beneath. But when an injury is deep enough to affect 
the cutis, a scar remains after healing. Sometimes a phy- 
sician prevents the formation of a large scar in an exten- 
sive burn, by skin-grafting, — the transference of healthy 
skin from another portion of the body to the injured part, 
or from a healthy person to an injured one. This also 
hastens recovery. 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 567 

In the lower stratum of the cuticle, the nerve filaments 
terminate in club-shaped extremities; and in the deepest 
cells of this layer is the pigment, or coloring matter, which 
distinguishes the light from the dark races. The differ- 
ence in complexion varies according to the development 
of pigment. In most persons exposure to wind and sun 
develops it more or less in the form of tan or freckles. 

In the cutis are found blood vessels, nerves, lymphatics, 
oil glands, sweat glands, smooth muscles, fat cells, and 
hairs. 

The health of the skin depends on constant activity; 
the loss of the dry, flat scales and the supply of new ones. 
Where pure and appropriate food is taken and sufficient 
exercise given the body, the skin may be brought into 
thorough condition, through aid of the bath. 

There are more than two millions of pores opening 
on the surface of the body, through which is excreted 
waste matter from the internal workings of the body. 
When the perspiration evaporates, the poisonous matter 
is left, and, when not removed by the bath, is carried back 
into the system and partially clogs up the openings of the 
respiratory tubes, or pores. 

Should the pores be closed entirely over half the sur- 
face of the body, death would result. 

In the Middle Ages, people did not bathe, and to dis- 
guise the offensive, rancid odors from unwashed bodies, 
strong perfumes were invented and used. During this 
period, plagues, epidemics, and skin diseases were very 
common. 



568 FEMINOLOGY. 

Effete matter accumulating on the surface of the body, 
not only clogs the pores, but causes decay of the skin itself, 
and sores and eruptions are the result. Else the lungs 
or kidneys, or both, are overtaxed, and some lesion follows. 

The face is oftenest made unsightly by eruptions, 
because as a concession to society the face is kept clean. 
That portion of the integument being kept active, impuri- 
ties tend toward it to find their way out of the system. 

There are two kinds of baths ; or rather, baths for two 
purposes. One merely cleanses the skin, the other cleanses 
the skin and assists impurities from within outward, by 
opening the pores of the skin through increased temperature. 

A bath should not be taken for the mere pleasure it 
affords, no more than food should be eaten because it tastes 
good. 

The first-named bath may be tepid, and finish with a 
cold douche; or be a cold bath taken as follows, according 
to a teacher of health and beauty : — 

" Stand in an empty bath tub, and with a glass com- 
mence by pouring water over the body. First wet the 
chest, face, and neck ; then between the shoulders and down 
the spine. Stop long enough to rub briskly every few 
minutes. Next pour water over the abdomen, hips and 
back, arms and legs. Work rapidly. Rub the skin with 
a crash towel, and dress quickly. If possible, go out for 
a morning walk; if not, exercise in some way to get up 
a good reaction." 

After a few days, the cold plunge may be used, if pre- 
ferred. The face and chest should first be wet with a 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 569 

sponge, then plunge bodily into a tub of cold water. Or 
it may be tepid when first getting in, and the cold water 
faucet turned on until the bath is quite cool. Get dry as 
soon as possible; dress quickly, and exercise. This bath 
may be taken in a limited quantity of water, in the sleep- 
ing room, with plenty of towels and a sponge. 

Rubbing is the principal part of the bath. The water 
softens the scaly cuticle so that by rubbing, the old flakes 
are removed. More than that, the friction calls the blood 
to the surface, and the circulation is quickened and vital- 
ized. The oftener the skin is groomed, the softer and 
fresher looking it becomes; because the old layers of cuti- 
cle are constantly removed along with impurity left by 
evaporated perspiration. A daily bath will, in a short 
time, make the skin like velvet, provided there has been 
a properly selected diet in the meantime. The oily matter 
in the sebaceous glands does not have time to' stagnate 
and form that cheesy matter called " flesh worms," which 
widens the pores and makes unsightly holes in the face. 

When any form of impurity exists in the system, a 
hot-water bath will assist in removing it. The room 
should be made hot; the bath water should be as hot as 
can be borne, and increased as the body can endure it. 
The body should be freely rubbed with some good soap 
and hot water. This carries away the sebaceous matter 
and external impurities, leaving the pores free to throw 
out of the system what is offensive or foreign to it. 

A hot bath is weakening if too prolonged. But the 
nervous system may be stimulated by spraying with water 



5/0 FEMINOLOGY. 

that is tepid, making it cooler, until at last it is quite cold. 
Then rub briskly. Always rest after a hot bath, else half 
its benefits are destroyed. For this reason, it is preferable 
to be taken before going to bed. Soap should be thor- 
oughly washed away, as it is injurious to the skin when 
allowed to remain. 

Cleanliness is but one of the benefits of the bath. 
When properly and regularly used, it is one of the chief 
aids to beauty, for which there are few to assert they do 
not care. A love of the beautiful is inherent in all whose 
tendencies are toward the best in life. Health is the basis 
of true beauty, and the bath is needful for health. To be 
attractive it is not especially necessary that the features 
should be perfectly formed, though perfect features are 
also a delight when the body is not neglected. But one 
whose features may be imperfectly formed will, with a 
clean mind in a clean body, have an attractiveness which 
is irresistible in proportion to the mental worth back of it. 

A second point to be observed is the internal bath, 
which is hardly secondary to the surface bath. Twice a 
week, at least, should the lower bowel, or colon, be flushed 
with water as hot as can be borne by the hand. Even 
when no constipation exists, the cells, or cavities, of the 
intestines accumulate fecal matter, which should be washed 
away before there is time for putrefaction to be reabsorbed 
into the system. The vagina should be cleansed by an 
injection during the daily ablution, to remove and prevent 
any rancidity of the secretions. 

The stomach bath is often valuable where there is 



. CARE OF THE PERSON. 571 

any tendency to stomach disorder. This may be taken 
in the form of a glassful or two of hot water the first thing 
in the morning. Any accumulation of mucus is loosened 
and passed out of the stomach, leaving a clean interior 
for the reception of the breakfast. 

Another method is valuable when something indigest- 
ible has been inadvertently taken into the stomach. This 
is to drink tepid water until nauseated. The stomach will 
eject it along with the offending substance. A second or 
third draft may be taken to insure a thorough cleansing. 
When the stomach does not readily eject the matter, a 
finger may be thrust down the throat to encourage vom- 
iting. 

The Complexion. — This usually refers to the skin 
covering the face and neck, and will as such be here re- 
garded. 

A good complexion depends upon the transparency of 
the skin, the health of the skin, the condition of the blood, 
and the food eaten. 

A system of external and internal cleansing will 
insure, — 

1. Transparency of the skin, 

2. Health of the Skin, and 

3. Pure Blood, provided pure food is used. 

The bathing cleanses the sewer ways of the body. But 
if impurity is constantly taken in the form of food, no 
cleansing can be sufficient to keep the cuticle in good con- 
dition. The purity of the drinking water must also be 



572 FEMINOLOGY. 

an established fact; although impurity in this is more apt 
to manifest itself in the form of gastric fever, or typhoid 
fever, than in muddy complexions. 

Some of the blemishes to the complexion are, sallow- 
ness, pimples, blackheads, moth patches, freckles, and tan. 
The tan and freckles are due to exposure to the wind and 
sun; the other blemishes to continual self-neglect. 

As age advances, furrows, or wrinkles, will appear, 
unless care is used to guard against them. The wrinkles 
come from constant action of the skin in certain direc- 
tions, which wears the furrows deeper. The frequent scowl, 
from whatever cause, will make lines between the eye- 
brows; while a face that often smiles will have fine lines 
about the eyes and mouth. Or if the smiles and scowls 
are both frequent, both kinds of lines appear. 

Sallowness may be due to a torpid liver, or to imper- 
fect nutrition; and the cure is in regulation of the diet, 
bathing, exercise, and deep breathing. In cases of torpid 
liver, food should consist of graham bread, fruits, and vege- 
tables. A glass of lemonade, without sugar, taken just 
before retiring will be found excellent. When digestion 
is at fault, eat but two meals a day — the first at 10 a. m., 
and the second and last meal of the day at 4 p. m. This 
is an excellent corrective for any form of stomach trouble. 
The hygienic measures will restore tone and vigor to the 
system, and the complexion rights itself. 

Pimples and blackheads are due to the retention of 
sebaceous matter. The face, and occasionally the chest 
and back, are the parts most often affected. When the 
action of the skin is not encouraged by the daily bath., 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 573 

the sebaceous matter hardens, and the ducts are choked 
up. Exposure to the air causes the ends to become black- 
ened; hence the name blackheads. Pressure on the duct 
forces out the impacted mass, which really resembles 
worms, and is called by some, flesh worms. 

Sometimes the retained secretions cause inflammation 
of greater or less degree. Hard lumps may be formed, 
or else pustules. Persons of scrofulous tendencies are 
most apt to be afflicted with the pimples. Self-abuse will 
also cause the disfiguration; and pity that it should be 
true, the testimony of any reliable physician will enlighten 
one as to the prevalence of the vice. 

To correct blackheads and pimples permanently, a cor- 
rect regime of living must be adhered to. Locally, apply 
with a soft cloth, sweet milk as hot as can be borne, after 
which bathe the face in cold water. 

After the accumulations have been removed, alternate 
steaming and cold bathing will induce contraction of the 
enlarged pores. 

After washing, the following preparation has been found 
beneficial, to be dabbled on the afflicted part : — 

Ij* Liquor of potassa 1 ounce. 

Cologne 2 ounces. 

White Brandy 4 ounces. 

For pimples, after washing and rubbing the parts, the 
following is recommended : — 

1J Tinct. Echinocea 4 drams. 

Plv. Boracic Acid 20 grains. 

Distilled Water iV 2 ounces. 



574 FEMINOLOGY. 

The bowels must be kept freely active, for which the 
following may be used : — 

3$ Cascara Aromat i ounce. 

Fl. Ex. Juglans Gin 4 drams. 

Glycerine 1 ounce. 

Essence Peppermint 10 drops. 

Sirup Ginger, to make 6 ounces. 

Dose: Teaspoonful night and morning. 
Or the following : — 

3? Arctium Lappa 2 drams. 

Trifolium Compound 6 drams. 

Simple Sirup, to make 6 ounces. 

Dose: Teaspoonful three or four times a day. 

A few drops of carbolic acid in rain water will effect 
a cure of pimples, when not of too long standing; to be 
used in connection with flushing the colon, bathing, deep 
breathing, exercise, and other hygienic rules for health. 

Moth patches, or liver spots, are discolorations of vari- 
ous tints, from sulphur color to dark brown or black. 
Some constitutional derangement is the cause; it may be 
from absorption of fecal matter from the colon; or from 
a torpid liver. See remedies in other parts of this work, 
for constipation and torpid liver. 

The rules of health must be observed to effect a regen- 
eration of the internal system. Locally, the face may be 
steamed. A successful mode of steaming is to make a 
flannel face cloth of good dimensions, by sewing two or 
three layers together; cut two holes in it for the nostrils. 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 575 

To use it, have some hot water in readiness; saturate the 
flannel, and hold over the face until it begins to cool, breath- 
ing through the holes left for the nostrils. Repeat several 
times, and then bathe the face in cold water, in which 
a quantity of baking soda has been dissolved. Rinse in 
cold water, dry by gently patting the flesh, and rub some 
mild emollient into the skin; as cream, unsalted butter, 
cocoa butter, vaseline, or sweet oil. Cocoa butter is the 
best of all emollients for the skin, for whatever purpose. 

Freckles and tan make the complexion ugly by spoil- 
ing the transparency of the cuticle. Sunshine is a neces- 
sity to health, but too* long exposure to its heat causes 
the pigment to> become of deeper color in most persons; 
patches or freckles in some individuals; an even coat 
of brown in others. The skin of other people blisters 
when exposed to wind or sun. To preserve the delicate 
texture, a degree of care is necessary, as the wearing of 
veils and gloves and broad-brimmed hats. 

Lemon juice is probably as good a remedy as may be 
found for the removal of freckles and tan. Apply it to 
the face, and allow to remain a few moments, then rinse 
off with clear, cold water, and dry. But before it is used. 
the skin should be made clean with warm water and soap. 

Wrinkles have heretofore been considered a necessity 
that must come with advancing years; but are not really 
so to any who are willing to give a little daily care to 
the face. The only secret is to keep the facial muscles 
from getting flabby, and to anoint the skin with an unguent 
which acts as food to the tissues underneath. 



$;6 



FEMINOLOGY. 



Steam the face, as before mentioned. Then anoint it 
thoroughly with cocoa butter, and rub out the furrows. 

For this purpose nothing equals the Florentine mas- 
sage cup. This little cup, passed slowly over lines and 
wrinkles, will, in a few minutes, bring 
to the surface a circulation which other- 
wise could be produced only by hours 
of manipulation with the fingers alone. 
This generous circulation will nourish 
the shrinking muscles, and induce 
growth of new cells. The cheeks will 
become rounded and firm, and the wrin- 
kles obliterated. 

In the absence of the cup, it will 
Florentine Massage be necessary to use the fingers, brush- 
ing away the wrinkles from the center 
of the face ; and the following will be necessary : — 

To encourage firmness of the facial muscles, gentle 
pinching all over the face will induce a healthy circulation. 
Alternating the rubbing with the kneading and pinching 
will cause both skin and muscles to become more firm and 
elastic. Practice this exercise from fifteen minutes to a 
half hour before retiring. It will remove and prevent wrin- 
kles or age lines. 

Roughness of the skin is caused by neglect or exposure 
or wrong living, or all combined. It should be remem- 
bered that the skin is naturally of a texture more delicate 
than leather, and should be given better attention. Expos- 




CARE OF THE PERSON. 577 

ures to extreme heat or cold, or to the vicissitudes of 
weather, tend to destroy the natural sensibility, and render 
the skin coarse and rough. 

It may be prevented by a little care, and by using an 
emollient upon retiring at night. 

Sunburn may be relieved by applying a preparation 
of equal parts of olive oil and lime water. 

The Hands. — The hands are in such constant use there 
is much more of general " wear and tear " for them than 
other exposed parts of the body. This is particularly true 
of women and girls who attend to housewifery in all its 
details; where there are constant changes from moist to 
dry and hot to cold. The care needed to protect the hands 
from these extremes may be so frequent, that busy women 
feel they cannot attend to it. However, it is always well 
to remember that the hands should be dried thoroughly on 
removing them from water. 

It should be deemed as necessary to have several pairs 
of white cotton gloves to protect the hands, as to have 
several aprons to protect the dress. When the breakfast 
is over, and dishes washed, the hands should be made clean, 
gently dried with the towel, and rubbed with cornmeal, 
a dish of which should be as handy as the soap dish. Then 
the sleeves are rolled down and the cotton gloves put on 
while the bed-making, sweeping, etc., are in progress. The 
whole secret of keeping the hands in good condition is 
in protection from sudden changes. Where a great deal 
37 



5/8 FEMINOLOGY. 

of water must be used, the effect on the hands may be 
offset by using an ointment at night and by wearing the 
gloves to bed. 

A cold cream that is highly recommended is made of 
mutton tallow and glycerine, of equal parts. The tallow 
may be obtained at the butcher's, and tried out at home, 
which will insure purity. Cut the tallow in bits, place 
in a stew pan, and the stew pan in boiling water. When 
the fat has been freed from the tallow, it may be strained 
through a piece of cheese cloth or a fine sieve. While 
still warm, mix with it the glycerine and some favorite 
perfume; put into little toilet jars for future use. 

Mme. Bernhardt, who has preserved a youthful appear- 
ance, though she is now a grandmother, says, " Learn 
what suits you best, and use this unguent occasionally; 
not for all times and all seasons." On the principle that 
the skin tires of one kind of food, it will be well to have 
on hand the preparation best suited and alternate with 
sweet oil, sweet cream, or vaseline. 

The Nails. — This is cuticle in a modified form, which 
protects the sensitive tips of fingers and toes. At the root 
and near the tips, the nail is continuous with the cuticle, 
but rests upon the cutis, or true skin, and is built up and 
kept in health by it. 

The nails should be trimmed once a week, not too 
closely, else the ends of the phalanges are not protected. 
As being objects of greater beauty, the finger nails need 
more attention than those of the toes. During the morn- 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 579 

ing ablution, the finger nails should be cleaned at the end, 
and the skin pushed back from the roots with some blunt 
instrument. This prevents " hangnails," which are caused 
by the skin clinging to the nail and being broken by the 
outward growth. The delicate half-moon at the base of 
each nail should be visible; persistent care in pushing back 
the cuticle from the root of the nail will soon exhibit it. 

Biting the nails spoils the shape of them, and the ringer 
tips as well. The habit in children should be overcome. 

In trimming the finger nails or toe nails, the outline 
should conform to the shape of the tip. They should 
never be scraped or pared; this tends to create an unnat- 
ural thickness. The corners should not be trimmed; there 
is danger of the nail growing into the flesh, which is often 
very painful. 

The pressure of a tight shoe will often cause an in- 
growing nail on a toe. The cure consists in removing 
the pressure; cleanse the part well; let it rest in a foot 
bath until the nail softens; then push a pledget of cotton 
or lint under the sharp edges of the nail, leaving it until 
the soreness is gone. 

The Hair. — The hair is called the glory of woman. 
The custom of allowing it to grow as long and luxuriantly 
as it will renders its care more arduous than if it were 
clipped short. But almost all women are willing to give 
the care for the beauty and protection afforded by it. 

A handsome growth of hair upon the scalp depends, 
as do other features of beauty, upon health and care. Dry, 






580 FEMINOLOGY. 

lusterless hair is seen in sickness; while the glossy, silken- 
looking hair will be seen on the scalp of her who is well, 
and does not neglect herself. 

The hair should be kept clean. The number of wash- 
ings required vary according to the locality in which one 
lives. In a smoky city, or in a dry, dusty country, the 
shampoo should be given twice a month. In less grimy 
localities, once a month may suffice. A lady may know 
when her hair needs washing by the appearance of the 
comb and brushes after dressing the hair. 

Dandruff on the head is but the cuticle coming off 
in particles. It does not exist on scalps well cared for. 
A shampoo twice a month with plentiful brushing between 
times, will prevent the accumulation. 

A good quality of soap is needed for the shampoo, and 
plenty of warm water. (In all considerations of bathing, 
it is intended that soft water shall be used. When not 
obtainable, ammonia or borax may be added to hard water. 
The texture of skin and hair is not enhanced by the use 
of hard water.) The hair should be wet and thoroughly 
lathered with the soap, which must be rubbed into the 
scalp by either brush or fingers. After the shampoo, the 
soap should be washed away by using several clear waters, 
to one of which has been added vinegar, in the proportion 
of one teaspoonful to a quart. The vinegar neutralizes 
the alkali effects of the soap. 

Care must be used in drying the hair : the locks should 
be parted, and the scalp rubbed well until all parts have 
been reached. After drying, the scalp should be anointed 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 581 

with a little sweet oil or vaseline; this is soothing, and 
taking the place of the natural oil removed in washing, 
prevents catching cold. 

For those whose scalps are sensitive, a shampoo may 
be made of yolk of eggs in lime water, which soothes as 
well as cleanses. 

The hair should not be bound up until thoroughly dry ; 
otherwise, the scalp will become rancid, and the hair harsh 
and brittle. For this reason, it will usually be more con- 
venient to have the shampoo at night. The hair may be 
dried quite well before retiring, but left free through the 
night. A square of light-weight flannel may be bound 
around the forehead and fastened at the back of the neck 
under the hair, if the weather is cold, and protection seems 
to be needed. 

The other great need of the hair is brushing. It is 
a tonic to the scalp, and makes the hair soft and glossy. 
It is time well spent, and which encourages the growth 
and luster of the hair to bestow from twenty-five to one 
hundred strokes night and morning. Beginning at the 
roots of the hair, the brush should be passed along to the 
end with a firm but gentle stroke; the comb being previ- 
ously used to remove the tangle. No part of the scalp 
should be left untouched, but it should not be treated so 
vigorously as to make it sore. This secures good circu- 
lation of blood about the follicles and glands which supply 
nourishment and oil for the preservation of the hair. With 
reasonably good health, no hair dyes or pomades will be 
needed, when such care is given. After the hair has been 



582 FEMINOLOGY. 

given a shampoo, it will increase the vigor to clip off all 
the split ends that can be seen. 

Never use a fine-tooth comb; and never draw the large 
comb through hair hastily or roughly. 

Baldness indicates exhaustion of the nervous energy. 
Anything constantly debilitating, or exhausting, will cause 
the hair to fall out; such as anxiety of mind, excessive 
study, exercise of the passions, and low fevers and hemor- 
rhages. 

Baldness in men is often caused by excessive hat wear- 
ing. The air is excluded from the scalp, and too much 
heat is generated in the region of the temples and crown. 
Local irritation, which will bring the blood to the part, 
is highly beneficial in connection with a change to better 
habits of mind or body. If the bald spot can be made 
red by friction several times daily, there is every chance 
for the renewal of the hair. 

A man who had become quite bald had the hair abun- 
dantly renewed by going without a hat for the larger part 
of one summer; or, when needing the face shaded, he wore 
a straw hat with the crown cut out. 

Another was successful in restoring hair to a crown 
quite bare, by the persistent use of onions rubbed over 
the naked scalp. The onion was cut in halves, one half 
being used vigorously at night and the other in the morning. 

It requires perseverance to restore hair. The deadened 
hair follicles must be revived, the scalp made more elastic, 
and free secretion of the nourishing fluids excited. When 
the powers of the body are unimpaired by age or disease, 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 583 

there will always be sufficient vitality in the scalp to insure 
activity of the glands when constantly encouraged. 

Falling hair may be prevented by attention to general 
health, and to the daily brushings. 

The following is an excellent formula, and should be 
used with massage every night : — 

I£ Cologne 8 ounces. 

Tc. Cantharides 2 ounces. 

Spirits of Camphor 2 ounces. 

With the return of circulation, the hair will grow and 
become glossy. 

Orris powder is used by those who have time to dust 
the scalp and brush it from the hair, for it requires a tre- 
mendous brushing. It is allowed to remain in the hair 
overnight. It leaves the hair as soft as silk, and with a 
delightful fragrance that lasts many days. 

Superfluous hair often makes the face of a lady un- 
sightly, and causes her a pang of regret. To overcome 
it, the roots of the hair must be de-vitalized. Pulling out 
coarse hairs by the roots will excite adjacent hair to growth, 
while shaving encourages the growth and coarseness. 

A safe means of removing superfluous hair is to apply 
an ointment made of one dram of salicylic acid and one 
ounce of vaseline. Apply as a plaster, four or five hours, 
for several days. After each application, some of the hairs 
may be removed with the tweezers, until all are gone. If 
the preparation irritates the skin, use more vaseline. Use 
a little olive oil on the part, after removing the hairs. 
- Another preparation is, — 



584 FEMINOLOGY. 

3J Lime 1 ounce. 

Carbonate of potash 2 ounces. 

Charcoal powder 1 dram. 

To be made into a paste with warm soft water, and 
applied to the part, which has been previously shaven. 

Children often contract catarrh by having the hair 
dressed with water, and hurrying at once to school, when 
the weather is cold. Only a very little dampness should 
be used on the brush should the hair be matted, and that 
allowed to dry before the child goes into the wind or 
weather. 

Short hair is always best for both boys and girls. It is 
the more easily dressed and cared for, and a more handsome 
growth for succeeding years is encouraged by allowing 
it to be short and free. 

To promote the growth of the eye-lashes, it is recom- 
mended that a second person, with a delicate pair of scis- 
sors, clip the end of each hair three or four times annually. 

The eye-brows may be brushed to encourage growth 
and smoothness. A tooth-brush beyond use for the teeth 
may be kept as a toilet accessory for the brows. 

The Eyes. — As an aid to receiving impressions and 
education, the eye is most important, and should be given 
every consideration to preserve its integrity. Any means 
that can be used to insure a healthful circulation in the 
eye and surrounding tissues will keep that organ in health. 
The habit of grooming the entire body daily has a whole- 
some effect on the nervous system, which will result in 
benefit to the eyes, as well as other parts of the body. 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 585 

The eyes should never be overtaxed by close applica- 
tion to work, as in reading, studying, or needlework; nor 
in looking too steadily at any object, near or distant; nor 
by dwelling on a glare of light, or on a trying color. 

Where there is a tendency to near-sight or far-sight, 
when not of long standing, good practice for the lenses 
of the eyes may be had by reading with the book at a dis- 
tance farther or nearer than naturally preferred. This 
may be tried frequently, but not so long as to strain the 
eyes. 

The too great convexity of the cornea which causes 
near-sight may be improved, and oftentimes cured, by a 
simple method. With an elbow resting on a desk or table, 
the eyes may be closed, and the index, second, and third 
fingers placed one on each eye, and the second on the bridge 
of the nose to steady the hand. This flattens the cornea 
and rests the eyes as well. The pressure should be gentle 
and continued for ten minutes or more. 

Slight irritation or inflammation may be cured by bath- 
ing in tepid water, or weak salt water. Never indulge 
in violent exercise while the eyes are inflamed, or the diffi- 
culty is increased. To reduce inflammation of the eye from 
any cause whatsoever, the following is excellent : — 

3$ Sulphate of Hydrastia grs. ij. 

Saturated Solution of Boracic Acid.Sj. 

Mix: Two drops in the eye three times daily. 

There are several ways of judging when the eyes need 
spectacles. 



586 FEMINOLOGY. 

1. When it is necessary to remove a small object to a 
distance in order to see it distinctly. 

2. When the eye becomes fatigued when looking stead- 
ily at an object, or it becomes blurred or confused to the 
sight. 

3. When, in reading, the words are blurred or indistinct. 

4. When the eyes are easily fatigued in reading. 

The growing generation seems to be requiring the aid 
of spectacles more than the preceding generations. But it 
is not surprising when it is recalled how the mothers pun- 
ished their own eyes by taking infinitesimal stitches, in 
making by hand all garments worn. 

A few good rules to remember in caring for the eyes 
are, — : 

1. Never read or write facing the light. Sit in such 
a way that the light comes from behind. 

2. Never read in the cars or when riding where the 
body is jolted. 

3. Never rock while reading. 

4. Never tax the eyes by sewing, reading, or writing 
in the twilight. 

5. When obliged to use the eyes steadily, they should 
be rested by closing them for five minutes at a time, as 
often as every two hours. 

6. Never tax the eyes when lying down. 

7. As much as possible, avoid sudden changes from 
light to darkness, or vice versa. 

An exercise for strengthening the eyes is as follows : — 
Sit with back to the light. Without moving the head, 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 587 

look as far as possible to the right and then to the left, 
without winking. Repeat five times. Then look up and 
down as far as possible, without moving the head, five 
times. Next look up to the right and down to the left, 
five times. Vice versa, five times. Repeated several times 
daily, the end of six months will find weak eyes and fail- 
ing sight restored. 

The Teeth. — The preservation of the teeth is neces- 
sary from both the standpoints of health and of beauty. 
They are a necessity that food may be ground and prepared 
for the action of the stomach in digestion, and their influ- 
ence on the facial appearance and expression is very marked. 

The care of the teeth consists in keeping them clean, 
and free from decay and deposits of tartar. To allow 
particles of food to remain in the interstices is very objec- 
tionable. Toothpicks of wood, ivory, or quill may be used 
to remove such. 

The teeth must be brushed night and morning, at least ; 
better, when it is convenient, to use the brush after each 
meal. Cool or tepid water may be used, and the teeth 
carefully brushed inside and outside. Pure castile soap 
is excellent to neutralize any acid, remove tartar, clean 
the teeth, and purify the breath. 

Children should be trained early as to the care of the 
teeth, learning, among other things, that hard substances 
like nuts should not be cracked by the teeth, as it destroys 
the enamel. Sudden extremes in the temperature of food 
or drink should be avoided, for the same reason. 



588 FEMINOLOGY. 

When it becomes necessary to take strong medicines, 
the mouth should be rinsed afterward, as a precaution 
against injurious action upon the teeth. Medicine that 
would injure the teeth should not be taken into the stom- 
ach. With constant care, the teeth should be in tolerable 
condition. But the first indication of decay should be 
brought to the attention of a dentist, whose skill will arrest 
it. Once or twice a year thereafter there should be an 
examination by the dentist. 

The following preparation is recommended for the 
teeth : — 

Prepared Chalk, two parts. 
Pulverized Orris Root, two parts. 
Pulverized Pumice Stone, one part. 
A few drops of any of the essential oils. 

The Ears. — It is said that a child born deaf does not 
develop mentally so quickly as one born blind, which 
proves that the sense of hearing contributes more than 
any other to intellectual development. Cultivation of the 
sense of hearing is possible by attention to fine sounds at 
a distance. 

To protect this sense, colds must be avoided, as induc- 
ing inflammation which impairs hearing. After the ear 
is washed, it should be quickly and thoroughly dried, with- 
out allowing the moisture to extend into the auditory 
canal. In health, the wax of the canal dries, scales, and 
falls out. Should it become hardened, a few drops of warm 
olive oil, or glycerine, will soften it; after which a syringe 
and tepid water will cleanse it away. 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 589 

Parents who are thoughtless sometimes strike their 
children upon the ears. This is a dangerous practice, as 
the sudden compression of air may rupture the eardrum, 
or tympanic membrane. 

In case of any serious difficulty with the internal ear, 
the best available surgeon, or aurist, should be consulted. 

Outstanding ears, according to all standards of beauty, 
are objectionable. In childhood, this can be corrected by 
having a thin nightcap of sufficient firmness to hold the 
ears against the head. 

If the deformity has been permitted to reach maturity, 
a reliable specialist will be able to correct it by removing 
a small portion of the cartilage at the back, which, when 
the part heals, leaves the ear in good position. 

Never insert a metallic substance in the auditory canal, 
for any reason. Avoid leaving the hair about the ears 
damp. 

To produce that admirable shell-pink color to the ears, 
in addition to careful regard to general health, the exter- 
nal ears may be rubbed gently several times daily, or gently 
pinched. On the same principle that color is brought to 
the lips or cheeks by an occasional thought and act in that 
direction, as in biting or rubbing those parts. 

The Feet. — The only special care necessary for the 
feet is to dress them in comfortable hosiery and shoes. 
The shoes should be long enough and broad enough to 
permit of free muscular action. In addition to the daily 
bath, the feet should be soaked in a bath of hot water, 



590 FEMIN0L0GY. 

once or twice in a week, in order that the cuticle of the 
soles can be readily removed. 

For cold feet, & superior remedy is to have two shal- 
low basins, one containing very hot, and the other very 
cold, water, and dip the feet from one to the other. The 
temperature should be kept at as great extremes as pos- 
sible. Sufferers should practice this hot and cold bath 
every night, and pay especial regard to general health. 

Contact with the earth causes the feet to become more 
soiled than other parts of the person. One author remarks, 
" Filthy feet are sure to bring diseases to the lungs. If 
one's feet are filthy, there is filth all over the body. It is 
true the feet are out of sight, but the circulation of the 
body comes to the gaze of persons on one's face and hands, 
and on the neck." 

Verily, cleanliness is next to godliness; so near as to 
be almost a twin brother. 

Corns, which often torment the human, are due to con- 
stant pressure upon a certain portion of the foot, usually 
the small toe. A hard, circumscribed bit of cuticle is thrown 
up in the shape of a cone, with the base upward. The 
pressure of the core of this growth upon the sensitive skin 
underneath causes the pain. 

To cure it, remove the pressure, and use friction of 
the part several times daily. A drop of the oil of origa- 
num touched upon the point will hasten the removal. 

Chilblains may be cured by moistening the affected 
parts with cider vinegar, before retiring; or by soaking 
the feet in water in which impeded potatoes have been 



CARE OF THE PERSON. 



591 



boiled. The feet should be immersed for twenty minutes, 
and the water kept at a temperature as hot as can be borne ; 
or water strong with alum may be used in the same 
way. 

Foul Breath. — This does not exist when the body is 
in good condition. It is occasioned by a variety of causes. 
It may be from decayed or unclean teeth, disordered stom- 
ach, or torpidity of the bowels, kidneys, liver, or skin. It 
is the effect of some derangement, and that, of course, for 
the sake of health, should be overcome. Catarrh causes 
a very offensive breath. 

Temporary relief may be had, when one wishes to 
appear at some entertainment or function, by the use of 
a gargle just before going out. A little bromo chloralum 
diluted with eight or ten parts of water, is recommended. 
But anything deodorizing can be used, having care not to 
employ too much. 

Waste matter retained in the system is the most fre- 
quent cause of offensive breath. This may be overcome 
by nightly injections of warm water, — cleansing the large 
intestine of old accumulations that cling to its walls, as 
lime to the sides of a teakettle. In addition, the formula 
given in another part of this work to keep the bowels 
active, should be used until the breath is sweet and inof- 
fensive. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

PHYSICAL CULTURE. 

All the possibilities of human life are inherent in the 
embryo at conception, but the first to develop is physical 
life, the body. And throughout earthly experience, the 
laws and requirements of the physical should receive equal 
attention with other phases of the human; else as the 
abiding place of the spirit entity, it will become unfit for 
healthy occupancy. 

Of course, the structure of body, mind, and morals 
depends largely upon heredity, prenatal influence, and envi- 
ronment. These constitute a molding influence; but intel- 
ligent study of the individual, which will call out and 
develop inherent good, and repress that which is not good, 
can remedy and often wholly eradicate imperfections. First 
there needs to be awakened a desire for improvement, and 
then an earnest seeking for the means to attain it. 

Perhaps the first great step in self-development is the 
control of appetite. Hunger, which announces that the 
machinery of the body needs more fuel, is a wise provi- 
sion of nature, and should be regarded by providing a 
sufficient quantity of wholesome food and drink. But when 
there is a craving for condiments, stimulants, narcotics, 
etc., which indicates an appetite diseased, the intelligence 
should certainly intervene. As the body is made up of 
592 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 593 

the properties taken into the system, it is easy to reason 
that unwholesome food and drink, and unhygienic sur- 
roundings must make a body and mind more or less at 
fault. 

But life is complex; no one good -thing can perfect an 
individual, although it will have a beneficial effect on other 
parts of the system. Granted there is plenty of pure air, 
pure food, and pure drink, there must also be plentiful 
cleansings of the sewerage of the body, an entire release 
from tight clothing, and abundant exercise. 

Physical culture and mental culture are related. With- 
out the mind trained to know the laws and needs of the 
body, the science of physical culture would never have 
been. This science has for its aim bodily perfection and 
equilibrium, resting upon the axiom, " A sound mind lives 
only in a sound body," as its base. Each part of the body 
is exercised just enough, and no more than will best develop 
that part. 

Delsarte, in speaking of this science, said, " No part 
of the body is used without a definite purpose in view, 
and no part is used more than is absolutely necessary to 
the end sought." This is to conserve the nervous energy, 
through the waste of which life is exhausted. Unless a 
restful state of mind is the controlling force of an exer- 
cise, the end to be attained is never reached. 

A quiescent state may be gained by exertion of the will 
in calm, deep breathing. Excitement of whatever kind 
induces uneven respiration, and to restore repose, induce 
a full, steady circulation by controlling the breathing. 
38 



594 FEMINOLOGY. 

Close the mouth; inhale slowly through the nostrils 
until the lungs are full. Exhale the same way. In a few 
minutes, calmness will result. 

In exercises to follow, allow no more vital force to be 
expended than is absolutely necessary. 

The only essentials for the preservation of physical life 
are the head and the trunk; the one as the seat of intel- 
ligent direction, the other as the seat of life. And. in order 
that life may be preserved from moment to moment, the 
process of respiration must go on. The sun-warmed air 
contains not only the oxygen which purities the blood, 
but also vitality. The " spark of life," which sustains and 
upbuilds, accompanies every inhalation of sun-warmed air. 

The heart is a joint essential to life with the lungs. 
Its action, beginning before birth, continues until death. 
It is this " spark of life " inhaled with sun-warmed air 
that keeps the throbbing heart from ceasing. The greater 
the lung capacity, the greater the strength of the heart's 
action, and the more assured the general health. 

It is possible, by conscious cultivation, to extend the 
capacity of the chest, and in consequence the vitality of 
the whole body. Large chests do not necessarily mean 
strong lungs. Often stout-built, or corpulent, people are 
very far from enjoying health. The adipose tissue often 
crowds out the lungs. But large lungs cannot, of course, 
exist in a small chest. 

In order to obtain and hold that health which makes 
a joy of living, it is necessary to practice deep, full breath- 
ing, until it becomes a habit. 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 595 

A full, deep respiration is taken as follows: Expel all 
the dead air possible from the lungs. Then inflate the 
chest slowly, breathing in until the waist expands, con- 
tinuing until the whole abdomen expands. Lift the chest, 
draw in the abdomen, and inhale more air. When the 
entire capacity is full, exhale as slowly and completely. 

Lifting the chest and drawing in the abdomen raises 
the vital organs. No exercise should be attempted until 
this is accomplished. A lowered chest and prolapsed abdo- 
men are habits that always lead to serious deviations from 
health; and any exercise practiced with the vital organs 
below normal position will result in harm. 

That important muscle, the diaphragm, which is the 
floor of the chest, becomes strengthened through the deep, 
full respiration. Five minutes twice a day makes it a 
good exercise for general health, though, when the habit 
of deep breathing becomes easy, it will be well to* practice 
the exercise oftener. 

The larger the breathing capacity, the more one may 
be assured of permanent good health; it can never be too 
great. In every instance where quiet perseverance is ob- 
served, enlargement of the chest is possible. 

Dr. Guilmette, of Boston, by continued exercise, added 
one inch per year girth to his chest, for several years after 
sixty. 

In the early years of Daniel Webster, he was of very 
inferior physique, so that his father considered him unfit 
for farm work, and sent him to Dartmouth College. In 
the culture attained mentally, he learned to hate his phys- 



596 FEMINOLOGY. 

ical deficiencies, and by constant exercise, bodily and men- 
tally, he became one of the most wonderful men of his 
time. His depth of chest produced a rich and resonant 
voice. In his work as public speaker, the audiences were 
as much thrilled by the magnificent presence and musical 
voice as by the brilliant ideas conveyed to them. 

Flat chests, weak lungs, bronchial or throat affections, 
and incipient consumption have, in innumerable cases, been 
overthrown by perseverance in chest and lung development, 
supplemented by nourishing food, plenty of sunshine and 
fresh air. The exercise will call the supply of nourishment 
to the tissues of the lungs, and the sun-warmed air will 
bestow vitality on the seeker, by which disease germs are 
destroyed. 

Following are some exercises for the muscles, to develop 
bodily vigor where it is lacking : — 

Exercise i. — Stand erect for a period of two min- 
utes, feet and knees touching, hands at sides, shoulders 
down, hips well back, chin in, and head erect. 

Exercise 2. — Erect position, arms akimbo ; keep knees 
together, and on the count one, lower the body until you 
almost sit on the heels. Rise on the count two; repeat for 
twenty counts. 

Exercise 3. — Erect position, arms akimbo; rest the 
weight on one foot; on the count one, raise the other foot 
as high as possible in a perfectly straight line; on count 
two it is brought to the floor without allowing an ounce 
of weight to rest upon it. Repeat twenty times; then exer- 
cise the other foot in the same manner. 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 



597 





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3~s. 




Flj.4- 



Ft _9- 5. 




598 FEMIXOLOGY. 

Exercise 4. — Rest the weight on the toes of one foot, 
exercising as in the last, using first one leg, and then the 
other. 

Exercise 5. — Stand, arms akimbo; raise one foot so 
that the leg is at right angles with the body. Turn the 
foot hard to the right on the count one, and hard to the 
left on the count two, for twenty counts. Repeat exercise 
same number of times, with the other foot. 

Exercise 6. — Stand, arms akimbo; raise one foot until 
at right angles with the body; bend at the knee, and lower 
the foot until the heel strikes the lower part of the body 
on count one. Count two, straighten the limb. Repeat for 
twenty counts, then raise the other leg and repeat as before. 

Exercise 7. — Stand, arms akimbo ; raise one foot in 
front until at right angles with the body; swing backward 
as far as possible without bending the knee. Repeat twenty 
times with each leg. 

Exercise 8. — Stand, arms akimbo ; raise the foot until 
at right angles with the body. Describe a circle, without 
bending the knee or ankle. Circle to the right eight times, 
and to the left eight times. Exercise the other leg in the 
same manner. 

Exercise 9. — Stand, arms akimbo ; take a long step 
forward; on the count one, lower the body until the for- 
ward leg is bent at right angles; on count two, bring the 
body to erect position. Repeat for twenty counts, then 
reverse and exercise the other knee in a like manner. 

Exercise 10. — Erect position, arms akimbo; take a large 
step to the side, facing front. Bend the knee of extended 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 



599 




fij[.7 




F i_9 . 1 o 



F~L9.ll. 



600 FEMINOLOGY. 

leg until at right angles, on the count one, and straighten 
on count two. Count twenty movements with each leg. 

Exercise n. — Stand, arms akimbo; pass one foot 
behind and past the other so that the knee will strike the 
floor close to the heel of the other foot, on count one. On 
count two, rise to standing position. Repeat twenty times 
with each leg. This will at first tax the muscles, possibly 
resulting in soreness, but perseverance makes it a valuable 
strengthening exercise. 

Exercise 12. — Stand, arms akimbo; take a long stride 
forward, and on count one, kneel until one knee comes 
to the floor without resting there. Rise on count two, 
and repeat twenty times. Repeat exercise with other knee. 

Exercise 13. — Erect position, arms akimbo; count one, 
swing the left leg across to the right and back from the 
hip; count two, swing the right leg across the other to the 
right and back. Repeat for twenty counts. 

Exercise 14. — Stand, arms akimbo, and on count one, 
throw hips to the right and head to the left. Count two, 
reverse. Repeat for twenty counts. This gives an exer- 
cise obtainable by no other movement. 

Exercise 15. — This is a rotary movement of the hips. 
Stand, arms akimbo ; on count one, throw hips to the right ; 
count two, to the front; count three, to the left; count 
four, to the back. Repeat for twenty counts. During 
these movements the head remains directly over the feet. 

Exercise 16. — This is a beneficial exercise, if acquired 
slowly, but is too taxing if attempted by itself. Stand; 
raise the arms straight over the head; with a sweeping 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 



60 1 




F"Ls- '3 



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FiQ 15. 






Fijg.17. F L2 IS. 



602 FEMINOLOGY. 

movement touch the floor in front without bending the 
knees. 

Exercise 1 7. — Stand, arms akimbo ; on count one, bend 
the waist to the right; on count two, to the left. All exer- 
cises for the muscles of the waist are healthful in a high 
degree. In this, preserve a straight line from waist to 
feet. 

Exercise 18. — Stand erect, place hands at the front 
of the abdomen, palms inward. On count one, crush 
inward on the abdomen, and bend forward at the waist, 
not at the hips; erect position, on count two. Repeat for 
twenty counts. 

Exercise 19. — Erect position, with hands at the small 
of the back, knuckles inward. On count one, bend back- 
ward from the waist as far as possible, using care not to 
bend hips or knees. On count tzvo, assume erect position. 
Repeat for twenty counts. 

Exercise 20. — Stand, arms akimbo. Count one, throw 
the head and shoulders as far as possible to the left; count 
two, to the front; count three, to the right; count four, 
to the back. Repeat for twenty counts. 

Exercise 21. — Stand, arms at sides. Raise the right 
shoulder as high as possible on count one, and lower firmly 
on count two. Repeat with each shoulder for twenty 
counts. 

Exercise 22. — Stand erect, with arms at sides. Raise 
the right shoulder as high as possible, then bring forward 
as far as may be without moving other parts of the body; 
now lower it energetically, and move as far backward as 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 



603 




e-j_C|. 19. 




f'J.20. 




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FL3.22. 



F|j9.23. 




604 FEMINOLOGY. 

possible, thus completing the circuit. Repeat with each 
shoulder twenty times. 

Exercise 23. — Same position as the last. Move one 
shoulder forward and the other backward for twenty counts. 
Avoid moving the body at waist or ankles. 

Exercise 24. — Same position. Raise one shoulder as 
high as possible, while lowering the other; hands clinched. 
Alternate the movement for twenty-two counts. 

Exercise 25. — Stand erect, arms at sides. On count 
one, extend arms at full length from the shoulders, but 
as far back as possible; on count two, bring them forward 
with a strong sweep, crossing each other with hands on 
opposite shoulders. Repeat for twenty-two counts. 

Exercise 26. — Erect position, arms at sides. Turn each 
arm upward and backward, letting the palms touch the 
shoulder blades on the same side. On count one, lower 
elbows; count two, lower wrists; count three, extend the 
open hands in front; count four, back to first position on 
shoulder blades. Repeat for forty counts. This drill is 
unequaled for muscular exercise of the arms. 

Exercise 27. — Erect position, arms at sides. On count 
one, raise the arms high in front, striking the palms 
together; count two, swing them down, striking the palms 
together behind. Repeat for twenty counts. This is a 
pleasant, exhilarating exercise, if the movements are made 
quickly. 

Exercise 28. — Stand erect, interlace the fingers behind 
the neck. On count one, raise the interlaced hands up to 
the right; count two, down in front; count three, up to 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 



605 



<££ZZZ 




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ZLS.zs 



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6o6 FEMINOLOGY. 

the left; count four, behind the neck. Repeat for twenty- 
counts. 

Exercise 29. — Erect position, arms at sides. On count 
one, incline the head to the right; count two, incline the 
head backward until the chin points to the ceiling; count 
three, incline head to the left; count four, drop the chin 
upon the chest. Repeat for forty counts. The top of the 
head must be made to describe a perfect circle. 

Exercise 30. — This exercise should be practiced with 
caution. Stand, arms akimbo; lower the body halfway 
to the floor, by bending the knees, standing on the toes, 
and leaning back. On count one, incline the head while 
in this position, until the face looks straight up; on count 
two, continue inclining the head backward; on count three, 
still continue inclining the head backward; on count four, 
incline the head so that the eyes may see the floor behind 
the body. Return the head to first position, in four more 
counts, and repeat. 

Exercise 31. — Thrust one leg backward, lower the body 
until the weight rests upon the knee; throw the arms up- 
ward, letting the palms rest on the shoulder blades. Then, 
as in the last exercise, incline the head backward in four 
counts, and raise in four counts. Repeat for five counts. 

Exercise 32. — Cross the legs at the knees, let the body 
rest upon the toes; extend the hands to the right and left 
with the palms down. On count one, lower the body 
slightly by bending at the neck, waist, hip, and knees, 
simultaneously ; count two, lower the body still more ; count 
three, lower it further; count four, bring it to its lowest 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 



607 







Fij). 35. 



608 FEMINOLOGY. 

possible position ; return to standing position in four counts. 
Repeat. 

Exercise 33. — Stand with arms akimbo, with weight 
resting upon the ball of the left foot. Repeat the count, 
one, two, three, several times, accenting the one. On the 
count one, jump about ten inches from the floor, at the same 
time throwing the right foot forward; the remaining num- 
bers serve as preparation for the next jump. Repeat for 
twenty jumps. 

Exercise 34. — Erect position, hands raised to chest. 
Perform the act of running as hard and as fast as possible, 
raising the heels high, until twenty is counted. 

Exercise 35. — Stand erect, with arms akimbo; lower 
the body by bending both knees. On count one, take a long 
striding step forward without raising the body; count two, 
take another step forward; continuing forward, or in a 
circle for twenty counts. 

Exercise 36. — Stand, heels together in the military posi- 
tion, and arms at the lower chest. On the count one, jump 
with both feet about six inches from the floor; count two, 
about seven inches; count three, about eight inches; count 
four, nine inches; count five, ten inches; count six, eleven 
inches ; count seven, twelve inches ; count eight, high as pos- 
sible. Repeat this series of jumps for twenty counts, giving 
the body a direct upward action. 

Exercises should not be taken hurriedly, nor practiced 
longer than will make one agreeably tired. 

Dr. J. H. Kellogg says : " It has been said that a man 
is simply a stream of matter flowing through a certain 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 609 

form. The body is the cast or mold, if you please ; and the 
food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, con- 
stitute the stream that is constantly flowing through this 
mold. If this stream is kept pure and active, if it is well 
mixed with air, it will be clean and wholesome. But if, 
like the stagnant pool, it becomes sluggish and inactive, it 
will be impure and offensive. 

" Exercise is one of the most important means by which 
this stream of the body is kept in constant activity. The 
stream is accelerated by making the muscles work. Exer- 
cise stimulates the appetite, and hence increases the inflow 
of the stream. Muscular work tears down the tissues and 
increases the outflow of matter. Exercise has an important 
effect upon the heart. . . . More blood is sent through the 
veins and arteries. In order to do its work in the body, it 
must pass through the lungs, and here it is purified by tak- 
ing in oxygen from the air. So we find that exercise not 
only stimulates the heart rate, but increases the activity of 
the lungs as well. When the lungs are excited by muscular 
activity of any kind, one takes in a much larger amount of 
air. When running, the amount of oxygen absorbed by 
the body is seven times as great as when one is lying on his 
back breathing normally. 

" Let us compare for a moment the frog with the bird. 
The frog finds his natural environment in the dirty pond 
because his life is on a very low level. He has a very small 
pair of lungs. He has no chest, no diaphragm, no breast- 
bone. The only way he can get air into his lungs is by 
swallowing it as we swallow water. The frog comes to 
39 



610 FEMINOLOGY. 

the top of the pond, sticks out his nose, swells out his 
throat, and you see a little winking movement at the end of 
his nostrils ; these are the little valves that he uses in swal- 
lowing the air. A mouthful of air will last him half an 
hour. He is just fitted to live in the mud, to sit on a 
log and croak dolefully. 

" But the bird. Think what an enormous chest it has 
compared with the rest of its body; and its great chest is 
filled with a splendid pair of lungs. Even this is not enough 
breathing capacity for the bird, and so its bones are made 
hollow, and these hollow bones are all in communication 
with the lungs. So that when the bird breathes, its whole 
body is filled with air; hence the bird can keep up with the 
fast express train. Some birds can travel one hundred and 
twenty miles an hour. 

" The bird lives above smoke and miasma. He soars to 
the mountain top and sings his song to greet the rising sun. 
But the frog simply croaks away among the shadows. If 
you wish to live the bird's life, you must breathe like the 
bird — expand your lungs, fill your whole being with God's 
pure air. Then you can climb to the mountain top, and 
enjoy the warm sunlight of each new day. But if you 
breathe like the frog, you cannot rise above a low, dark 
plane. 

" Why are so many people depressed and low-spirited, 
troubled with the ' vapors/ given to seeing nothing but the 
dark side of life? — Because their whole bodies are full of 
organic dirt. Eyes, skin, brain, glands, every organ and 
part of the body is saturated with organic dirt. The only 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 611 

way to get it out (entirely) is to breathe, to make the whole 
body breathe." 

Graceful movements and easy positions depend upon 
the proper carriage of the chest, and are in proportion to 
the extent of cultivation it has received. Walking, sitting, 
bowing, the common movements and positions in daily 
intercourse with fellow-creatures may be correct or awkward 
according as some natural law is observed or violated. 

The foundation principle for walking is, " The chest 
center when poised in a perfect perpendicular over the ever- 
shifting support guarantees correct walking." Graceful 
walking should appeal to every one, as being conducive to 
health, as well as adding to a pleasing appearance. 

The foot is not carried horizontally, so naturally the 
ball strikes first. But where heels are worn, not too high, 
the ground is touched simultaneously by ball and heel of 
the foot, the larger proportion of the weight, however, 
resting upon the ball of the foot. An item to keep in mind 
is to press the ball firmly to the ground or floor, while 
making the heel as light as possible. 

Resting the weight upon the heel gives an awkward 
movement, one unnatural and jerky. Besides, it is unwhole- 
some, often causing nervous exhaustion by the jar upon the 
nerves and muscles of the spinal column. 

Do not take too long steps. The body is thrown out of 
dignified poise thereby. 

Every step should be so well taken that the weight of 
the body rests upon the advanced foot, and the other foot 
may be brought forward without affecting the balance. 



612 FEMINOLOGY. 

High heels throw the body out of balance, and make an 
unequal distribution of weight. Normal walking allows 
the ball of the foot an instant of rest. As the chest con- 
tracts, the body becomes awkward. Raise the chest, and 
bent knees and dragging feet will vanish. 

In the Art of Sitting, Edmund Shaftesbury outlines the 
following points : — 

i. Comfort and ease are the first considerations.' 

2. No sitting posture is comfortable unless it is 
graceful. 

3. The parts of the body involved in sitting are: the 
head, shoulders, elbows, hands, chest, middle, knees, and 
feet. 

4. The head should be poised lightly upon the chest; 
and should not be craned nor held stiffly in position. 

5. The shoulders should be poised lightly on the chest; 
and should not be raised, thrown forward nor backward. 

6. The elbows should not be thrust in against the ribs 
nor spread outward in sharp angles. 

7. The hands must be devitalized, or must hold some 
extraneous object, or must assume a gentle expression. 

8. The chest must maintain a natural carriage in poise 
with the general body. 

9. The knees must not be opened nor closed. 

10. The feet must not be opened nor closed. 

11. The knees are said to be opened when they are 
farther apart than the width of the knee itself. 

12. The feet are said to be open when they are farther 
apart than the width of the foot itself. 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 613 

13. The knees are said to be closed when they touch 
without crossing. 

14. The feet are said to be closed when they touch 
without crossing. Thus it is not graceful to place both 
feet on the floor side by side touching; nor the knees touch- 
ing while both feet are on the floor either open or closed. 
By these rules it will be seen that the feet should be no more 
spread in sitting 'than in standing. 

15. The feet may cross at the ankles provided the knees 
are not open. 

16. One foot should not rest on the other. 

17. Neither foot when free should rest on its edge, side, 
heel, or toes. It should be flat on the floor; unless owing 
to the height of the chair, or to crossing the knees or ankles, 
a part only of the foot can reach the floor. 

18. It is proper for a gentleman to cross the knees pro- 
vided the limbs touch at the knees. To raise the upper 
limb even an inch, or to rest the calf, shin, or ankle on the 
knee is very crude and coarse. 

19. It is more graceful for a lady to have both feet on 
the floor. Next in order of position is the crossing at the 
ankles, which is always graceful if the knees are not open. 

20. Whether a lady ought to cross the knees is with 
some a debatable question. The best society permits it ; but 
it certainly is not graceful if any part of the sole of the shoe 
is visible. If the position can be taken so that the toe of 
the raised foot points down, no fault can be found with it. 

21. It is convenient for either a lady or gentleman to 
have something in the hand, but neither should have both 



614 FEMINOLOGY. 

hands occupied. In the case of a lady, if she carry a fan in 
one hand, she should not carry a handkerchief in the other ; 
and this will apply to any object. In the case of a gentle- 
man, nothing should be carried in either hand if done 
merely for the purpose of giving ease, and it always appears 
effeminate excepting occasionally the carriage of the hand- 
kerchief, a book, a roll of paper, or perhaps a newspaper. 

22. Movements of the hands should be avoided. Even 
the use of the fan should be with slow, gentle, sweeping 
motions, instead of quick, nervous movements. The latter 
produces feelings of irritation both in the person making 
them and in others who are present. 

23. The hands should never toy with any part of the 
clothing nor with anything worn. 

24. One hand at a time, but never two, may rest upon 
some part of the clothing, or may touch some ornament or 
button, but should not feel it or finger it. f 

25. The hands should never be out of sight to a person 
in front of you ; this, of course, means to preclude the very 
bad habit of carrying the hands behind, or in the pockets. 

26. In sitting, a lady may rest her hands upon the lap, 
but not near the knees; a gentleman may do the same, 
avoiding the following: First, keep the hands away 
from the knees. Second, keep the hands away from the 
abdomen. Third, keep the hands away from the insides of 
the legs. Fourth, keep the hands away from the outsides 
of the legs. Both hands should not be equally advanced 
as they rest upon the upper legs; the palms should not be 
visible nor the fingers straight. It may be claimed that to 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 615 

follow these directions will require a person to sit in a very 
prescribed position; but while such may appear to be the 
case the result always is that the person who will follow 
the directions, will soon lose all appearance of stiffness to 
himself, and to others will seem to be at perfect ease and 
totally unconscious of his hands, which is something to be 
desired. 

27. Do not sit on the side. This is understood readily 
when one is seated. It is very easy to twist the body so as 
to sit on one half the supporting part of the body. 

28. Do not sit on the end of the spinal column. It does 
serious injury to the spine, and deranges the abdominal 
organs. 

Many disorders, particularly of digestion, result from 
incorrect postures in sitting. Children at school are very 
apt to fall into incorrect habits of sitting, through sheer 
weariness in trying to sustain a position more correct. 
Spinal curvature is often one of the results. 

Bozving is a pretty custom among the race of Caucasians 
in greeting individuals. It is the more admirable, of course, 
when tendered with ease and grace. Not many people have 
time for any special cultivation of such a matter-of-course, 
every-day courtesy, but a few points for observation will be 
here in order. 

In practice for a slight bow observe the following : Take 
a standing position, with the weight of one foot retired, 
the advanced foot being slightly in front of it. Bend the 
neck and waist very slightly, of course keeping the eyes 
upon the person bowed to. This should be done slowly 



616 FEMINOLOGY. 

and in good poise. If so performed, it is one of the neat- 
est, most graceful of the slight bows. Had the movement 
been from the neck only, it would have been flippant; had 
it proceeded only from the waist, it would have been too set ; 
had it proceeded from the hip joint, it would have been 
awkward. 

A more elaborate bow may be learned from the follow- 
ing practice : Take a standing position with one foot slightly 
in advance of the other, the weight upon either. The retired 
foot is to be carried backward to an extent proportionate 
with the depth of the bow to be given. The knee of this 
limb must bend, allowing the body to be carried downward, 
accompanied by a bending at the hips, waist, and neck. 
This bow is favored by many ladies and gentlemen of ele- 
gant manners. 

Almost every one is called upon more or less to talk or 
entertain in public, and for this there is a certain etiquette 
in bowing. 

If no book or paper is used in a lecture, address, or 
reading, there should be no bow unless greeted by applause. 

A singer should not bow unless received by applause. 

Graduates and others taking part in general exercises, 
but appearing individually, should not bow unless received 
by applause. 

At the end of an address or reading, a bow should always 
be made as a farewell to the audience. This is more beau- 
tifully performed if the bow can accompany the final sen- 
timents of the words. Sometimes, however, it is more 
appropriate to wait until the words have ceased, and give 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 617 

the bow with the first step backward. Avoid all hasty, 
jerky movements. 

Everything read from a book should be accompanied 
by the bow of greeting and the retiring bow. 

In the Shaftesbury School of Physical Culture, twenty- 
two laws of grace are set forth. They are as follows : — 

1. The center of gravity must be at or above the 
diaphragm. 

2. If the center of gravity is below the diaphragm, the 
body is out of balance. 

3. In proportion as the vital organs descend from their 
proper elevation, the body becomes awkward. 

4. All faults of form and attitude are natural condi- 
tions and can only be cured by new natural conditions. 

In other words, a new habit must be formed to take the 
place of a fault. 

5. A forced position neither cures a fault nor betters it. 

6. The center of gravity has neither breadth nor width ; 
therefore it is best supported on a base equal to itself. 

7. In graceful walking a perpendicular line must extend 
from the center of gravity to the ball of one foot at the apex 
of every step. 

8. Every standing position of grace should be sup- 
ported on a single base. 

9. The greater the weakness of the body the broader 
must be the support. 

10. The greater the strength of the body the narrower 
is the base of support. 

11. The laws of attitude apply to action. When we 



618 FEMINOLOGY. 

are not still, we are performing some kind of action. Grace, 
therefore, has reference to both action and attitude. Grace 
is in accord with purity, beauty, and dignity. Awkward- 
ness cohabits with coarseness, boorishness, and brutality. 
Affectation is the boon companion of silliness, shallowness, 
and foppishness. 

12. Age demands a broader base than youth. 

13. An attitude in length, depicting strength of pur- 
pose, may have a large base. 

14. All neutral attitudes are best presented in the 
length. (The standing position.) 

15. Arrogance and defiance require "an attitude in the 
lengths. 

16. In neutral attitudes, the gravity line should not 
strike the floor. 

17. In standing attitudes, the weakness of the chest 
appears in the spreading position of the legs. 

18. An attitude of strength should never be forced. 

19. A perfect standing position should be in perfect 
poise. The line of the center of gravity must be poised on 
the foot that supports the weight. 

20. The arms should hang from a well-poised chest. 
They are never in a better position than when they hang 
from the shoulders by their own unaided weight. 

21. The body should not be so poised that the free foot 
is necessary to maintain its balance. 

22. In every neutral attitude, a perpendicular line from 
the nape of the neck should strike the heel of the foot bear- 



— 



PHYSICAL CULTURE. 619 

ing the weight of the body. This is called the Greek line 
of poise. 

The price of health, grace, and general well-being 
depends on constant care; without it, body, mind, and 
morals will deteriorate. The law throughout nature as 
seen upon the earth is that weeds will grow and crowd out 
the good seed. Humankind, without regardful associa- 
tion with its fellow-creatures, becomes slatternly in manners 
and dress, with a general disregard for the niceties that 
make the intercourse pleasant in social relations. An ever- 
present aid against drifting is to try to sustain wholesome 
self-respect in the thought that the body is the temple of 
the soul, and as such must be kept clean and pure and 
wholesome. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

REST. 

Thought of rest brings with it the idea of cessation of 
care. The ability to do away with care that the life forces 
may have time for recuperation is one of the surest indica- 
tions of the mastery of self. In this age of restlessness 
among the American people, the great need is to know how 
to secure repose, that the recuperation may be commen- 
surate with the force expended. Unless this be made a 
fact, no life can be made to cover the allotted three-score- 
and-ten with any degree of happiness and profit. 

" For life is not to live, but to be well." 

Few people there are who need not only nights of rest, 
but also moments of relaxation through the day. This 
condition of toilsome disquietude is a heritage from an 
ancestry whose primitive condition of life made it necessary 
to economize every moment of their time for the needs of 
the body. 

One bedridden grandmother told the writer that often 
in pioneer days she had toiled all day for her family of 
young children, and at night, by the light of the moon, or 
lantern, worked in her garden. Any person who did not 
use every moment of time in some sort of labor was denom- 
inated as shiftless. In the light of experience, the idea of 
620 




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RECREATION. 



REST. 621 

the need for rest has begun to take hold in the popular 
mind. And labor-saving inventions have been introduced 
on all sides for the purpose of allowing those who toil 
more time for the kind of relaxation needful in individual 
cases. But in too many instances has the avarice of those 
" who toil not " robbed the worker of what should belong 
to him ; made it necessary for longer hours of toil ; made 
him and his family " make bricks without straw " in the 
decree that they all must live honestly on nothing. 

Age, occupation, and the general condition of health 
have a modifying effect on the number of hours of rest 
needed. All do not require an equal amount of hours to 
recover the energy expended. Some, indeed, do not expend 
much energy, while the drain on others is enormous. Train- 
ing enables one to get the greatest results from the least 
amount of effort set forth. The aged and the very young 
need more sleep than the youth and middle aged. Mental 
strain is more exhausting to the life forces than physical 
strain and requires more time for the system to restore the 
loss. The sick need more sleep than the well; the person 
of keen sensibility more than the sluggish. 

The plan of life must arrange for relaxation of the 
tension of the energies if health is to be possessed. Nature 
has decreed the law of action and reaction, and obedience 
must be hers or the penalty is unalterably attached. It is 
as true as if when one is at a great height and the support 
gives way there will be a fall. No prayers or fasting can 
intervene to save. If repose is not provided for, the inevi- 
table reaction will come in some form of illness which tern- 



622 FEMINOLOGY. 

porarily robs one of the power to do. Then the physician 
is given the case. In case of recovery the candle of life 
will again be burned at both ends, the illness being regarded 
simply as something that had to be, instead of something 
avoidable. 

Notable instances are frequently brought before the 
public of persons who understand how to diminish care in 
order to obtain rest. Mr. Edison, the genius who has 
invented and perfected many electrical apparatuses, is one. 
Of him it is said that he will work continuously for a pro- 
digious number of hours, or until he gets to a place where 
his thoughts and experiments can be secured, without rest 
or food. When such point is reached, all thought of his 
work is dismissed. He will partake of food, and have read 
to him some light story to ease down the strain before 
going to sleep; then after a few hours again be at his 
experiments. 

Mr. Bryan, who in 1896 made a phenomenal campaign 
for president of the United States, has been cited as another 
who knows the value of rest and how to obtain it. In that 
year he traveled over the States constantly, making innu- 
merable speeches full of enthusiasm, and throughout the 
campaign retained his strength and vigor. Traveling com- 
panions testified to the ease with which Mr. Bryan diverted 
himself from care; that in a moment or two after settling 
himself for repose he could be asleep. In the proportion 
that tension of the energies is loosened, can the more recu- 
peration be obtained in a given space of time. 

The immortal poet called sleep the " chief nourisher in 



REST. 623 

life's feast." That it is true any one who has suffered from 
insomnia, for any length of time, can testify. Insomnia is 
not a disease of itself, but a disorder, or symptom of an 
unnatural condition. Equilibrium has in some way been 
disturbed, and to overcome the disorder strict attention must 
be given the rules of health. Unconsciousness, a condition 
of normal sleep, may be produced by drugs, but the effects 
on the system can in no wise compare with healthful sleep. 
During natural slumber, new matter and new energy are 
stored up for use of future activities. While unconscious- 
ness through anesthetics merely dulls the sensibilities with- 
out enabling the recuperative forces to do their perfect work. 

A sufferer from insomnia must take a thorough mental 
review of his habits with the idea of correcting that which 
is detrimental to his well-being. Sleeplessness, through the 
use of stimulants, from lack of physical exercise, or from 
excessive physical exercise, from irregularity in retiring, 
nervous exhaustion from whatever cause, or indigestion, 
or worry, can be cured by the intelligent individual who in 
any near degree has learned the lesson, " Know thyself." 
Insomnia, through some organic disease, however, will need 
the attention of a skilled and conscientious practitioner, 
though a thorough hygienic mode of living will greatly aid 
in overcoming any disorder. 

The suffering may be caused by functional derange- 
ments either singly or in combinations. Should it be from 
nervous exhaustion along with the use of stimulants, it 
does not stand to reason that a cure may be effected by drugs 
which merely stupefy the sensibilities. Instead, there 



624 FEMINOLOGY. 

should be a return to that regimen which will upbuild the 
system: Hours for sleep long enough, retiring regularly; 
eat of a plain, nourishing diet, using care not to overload 
the stomach ; use the bath regularly ; cleanse the lower bowel 
at least three times a week with hot-water enemas; sleep 
in a well-ventilated room without a bed companion; exer- 
cise in moderation. 

If one cannot go to sleep after retiring, from irritation 
of the stomach on account of the presence of undigested 
food, get up and unload the stomach. The sleep will be of 
more benefit than the fermented food. Some persons can 
disgorge the contents of the stomach with ease, while to 
others it is torture. Either an emetic or stomach pump will 
assist. Avoid eating heavily in the latter part of the day. 

A hot bath of ioo° to 104 F., is often of great value 
for the purpose of inducing sleep. The patient should 
rest in the bath from ten to fifteen minutes, having about the 
head a cloth wrung from cold water. Before leaving the 
bath the temperature should be lowered to prevent the 
patient catching cold. The body should be thoroughly 
dried, and the patient sent to bed in a quiet, well-ventilated 
room. It is often well to place the hot-water bottle to the 
feet and a cool cloth to the head. 

The hot footbath is another means for bringing sleep 
the head a cloth wrung from cold water. Before leaving the 
the bath the temperature should be lowered to prevent the 
is too much blood in the brain, or congestion of any of the 
internal parts. 

Massage is also beneficial in some cases of insomnia, but 



REST. 625 

this being a distinct art requires one trained in it to admin- 
ister the necessary manipulation. 

Mere rubbing, or friction of the surface of the body, is 
soothing when administered by one whose touch is gentle 
and agreeable to the patient. 

The galvanic current is also recommended in the treat- 
ment of insomnia, but this, too, requires an operator 
acquainted with the values and effects of the same. The 
current should be strong enough to be felt distinctly by 
the patient, without causing the peculiar prickly sensation 
which borders on pain. 

Persons who cannot go to sleep with a feeling of hunger 
may partake of some light food. Warm food taken in a 
fluid condition is best. Milk heated with boiling water is 
excellent for those to whom it is agreeable. 

But the chief enemy of repose is worry. It will cause 
not only sleeplessness, but also other disordered conditions 
which in turn aggravate insomnia. It is a two-edged 
sword, and is something so utterly needless and useless as 
to seem absurd in moments of calm reflection. 

One of our modern American philosophers presents it 
thus : " To worry is to throw dust into one's eyes, to tread 
on pointing pins and needles, to annoy the breast with need- 
less gasps and groans." 

" If distress of mind enhanced the ability to achieve in 

serious effort; if mental distraction and tumult of the heart 

are essential to the poet's dream or the philosopher's ideal, 

the artisan's attainments or the housewife's duties, then it 

is well to fret and fume, endure and triumph. But worri- 
40 



626 FEMINOLOGY. 

ment can no more guide to the goal of success in any field 
of human endeavor than can a creeping insect without 
entanglement crawl through a spider's web." 

Another, with the desire to help her fellow-creatures, 
has given an admirably written article in one of the current 
periodicals on the subject of worrying. 1 Following are 
some extracts : — 

"If any man or woman knows more about worrying 
than I do that man or woman is sincerely to be pitied. To 
begin with, I come of honorable generations of worriers, 
all of whom seemed to be deeply sensible of their respon- 
sibility for the carrying on of a world which they did not 
create. I remember distinctly how my grandfather, an old 
Connecticut clergyman, used to worry when the weather 
was hot and damp for fear the wheat would rot, and again 
when it was cool and dry he worried for fear the corn would 
not grow. My mother, in her turn, worried with an 
elaboration and finish which really lent distinction to her 
performance. ... As for myself, when it came my turn 
to take up the burden of the universe, I was quite as suc- 
cessful as she. As a child, I worried about the end of the 
world (I was sure it would come upon me with a jump 
some night while I was asleep and quite unprepared), and 
the unpardonable sin, which I knew I had committed if I 
could only find out what it was. ... As I grew older the 
subjects changed, but the worrying went on. 

" I go into all this personal confession because I want 



l "The Confessions of a Worrier," by Mary Boardman Page, in The Ladief Home Jour- 
nal, September, 1899. 



REST. 627 

to make it clear that I have a right to talk about worry, 
and because now that I have found my way out of prison 
I want to show others as clearly as I can the way to escape. 
... I had always supposed it was as much my business to 
worry as it was to breathe, and I looked upon people who 
did not worry as the shirks and cowards of creation, who 
were easy in their minds simply because they were criminally 
indifferent to their duties. ... I never stopped to ask 
myself how it could be that a state of mind all of whose 
results were bad, and none of whose results were good, 
could be the intention of an all-wise and kind Creator whose 
work is perfectly good. It never occurred to me that a 
state of mental calm and poise, a harmony between one's 
self and one's work and surroundings, is the ideal atmos- 
phere in which to accomplish things; that worrying force 
is just wasted force and nothing better. 

" ' But/ objects some one, ' was not your mother right 
in a certain sense after all ? If people never worried, would 
there not spring up a general indifference of mind and 
sluggishness of body which would propagate all kinds of 
criminal carelessness and fill the future of each of us with 
smash-ups ? ' Ah, but you must distinguish here between 
that foresight, that calm care for the future which is an 
evidence of sanity and which is necessary to make things 
go right and smoothly, and the mischievous brooding, 
worrying habit which anticipates, not what is likely to 
happen, but what is most unlikely. The first is right, the 
second is wrong. The first helps you on materially, the 
second is like cantering up and down upon a rocking- 



628 FEMINOLOGY. 

horse. In my own experience I have never found myself 
so willing to take calm thought for the morrow, so inter- 
ested in my work, so full of projects and resources, so easily 
able to do things as since I gave up worrying, and became 
. . . a free woman working from a joyous love of activity 
for its own sake. 

" I have proved the proposition over and over in my own 
experience, and I tell you it is wholly true that worry was 
never intended to be a part of the mental structure of man. 
It is a vicious and unnatural habit into which we have fallen 
through generations of artificial thinking. So far from 
stimulating and helping us to action, it cheats us and robs 
us of strength. What friction is to the mechanical world, 
worry is to the mental machinery. It retards motion and 
lessens force, and, as the most perfect machine is the one 
in which friction plays the least part, so the best-equipped 
and most successful mentality is the one in which worry 
is most eliminated. . . . Since I have learned to do without 
worry in my life, and how instantly to command its depar- 
ture, it seems strange enough to me that we shrewd and 
inquiring Americans should have been so long finding out 
a truth that devout Buddhists, notably the Japanese, have 
in effect known and practiced always. 

" The usual way people set about stopping worry is a 
wrong one. That is why it is so unsuccessful. If a doctor 
tells a patient he must stop worrying, the patient is likely to 
say impatiently, ' Oh, doctor, don't I wish that I could ! 
But I can't. If I could have stopped worrying a year ago 
I would not be ill now ! ' — all of which is probably per- 



REST. 629 

fectly true. And the doctor does not always know how to 
help him, because both doctor and patient have an idea that 
it is possible to repress worry through an effort of the will. 
This is a mistake. . . . You have got to replace it with 
something else. . . . The only possible way to get rid of it 
is to replace the worry attitude of mind with the non-worry 
attitude. And this can always be done when the person is 
sincere and patient in his desire to bring it about. It can 
be done because it is nature's intent that we should not 
worry, and when we are trying to bring this about, we are 
working with nature, not against her, and have thus all the 
force of her beneficent laws working with us. 

" So much for the abstract theory ; now for the prac- 
tical prescription. I call it a prescription advisedly, because 
the method of worry-cure I am about to give you is founded 
on both psychological and physiological laws that are as 
exact in their working as the laws of medicine, and must 
be followed with the same implicit obedience. The psy- 
chological basis is what is known as the law of attention, 
and the physiological basis is the undoubted control of the 
body by the mind through the nervous system. The under- 
lying laws are as old as humanity itself. 

" When the symptoms of worry begin to manifest them- 
selves, when your mind gets to dwelling upon some one 
troubling matter with feverish insistence, when you find 
yourself depressed, or irritable, or overstrung, or full of 
foreboding, then go to your room and lock the door. For 
the first application of this prescription you must be abso- 
lutely alone and in silence ; after a while you may be able to 



630 FEMINOLOGY. 

make these conditions for yourself anywhere, by the com- 
plete withdrawal of your mind even in the midst of a crowd ; 
but at first you must be quite alone. Loosen your garments 
completely, and lie down in the most restful position you 
can assume. The one I recommend is flat on the back 
with the shoulders as low as possible, and with just enough 
elevation of the head to be comfortable. Avoid raising the 
head too high, thus cramping the neck and impeding the 
circulation. Now close your eyes for a few minutes, and, 
raising the arms, let them fall and lie loosely and naturally 
above your head. Lie thus for a minute or two; then 
begin to take long, deep breaths, as deeply as possible, exhal- 
ing quietly and naturally. Keep this up for five minutes, 
or until you are sensible of a real relaxation and refresh- 
ment of the body. You will then be in the physical condition 
to take up the mental work. Begin this process by making 
the mind as empty as possible for the moment. Figure to 
yourself that your mind is a slate over which you pass a 
damp sponge, obliterating every line that the day's thought 
has made upon it. Wash the slate as clean and as blank as 
you can, and then begin to impress upon its face a new 
series of thoughts. First say to yourself, out loud, but 
quietly and with your whole mind fixed upon its meaning, 
* This is God's world, not mine.' Say it over and over, not 
in a wandering, parrot-like way, but understandingly, until 
the full meaning of the phrase has flooded your mind, and 
brought with it a delightful sense of calm and rest. Try 
to realize each time you repeat the words that since you 
did not make the world nor the laws that govern it, God 



REST. 631 

has quite absolved you from the duty of running it. Keep 
up the deep, slow breathing, and if at any moment you find 
your mind slipping off to its worries while the words go 
drumming on in your ears, draw the thought back by direct- 
ing the will toward it, not with strain nor intense effort to 
concentrate attention, but gently and with relaxed desire, 
rather than with that mistaken tenseness of the mind which 
we are accustomed to call the will, but which is really 
nervous strain, and not will at all. 

" When this thought has done its work, you will already 
be calm and passive, and can pass on to the next step in the 
mental process — a consideration of the Infinite Power 
which is able to keep in harmony the world it has created. 
Say to yourself over and over, as before, * The Infinite 
Power will take care of its own universe, of which I am a 
part,' thinking as you say the words of the infinity of worlds 
swinging through space in perfect harmony, without shock 
or jar, guided by perfect laws which can always be trusted 
absolutely, and which never make a mistake. . . . Since 
you are a part of God's universe, he is bound by all the 
force of that universe to include you in his care. . . . Now, 
when you have reached the point where you can realize all 
this effectively, and recognize the distinct result it has 
already had in relaxing the nerves and soothing and quiet- 
ing the mind, you are ready to pass on to the last mental 
exercise, that which allies yourself with this calm, eternal 
Infinite Power to which you belong. Say this over to your- 
self, ' I belong to the Infinite Power ; the Infinite Power 
belongs to me. I open my soul to receive it,' and with this 



632 FEMINOLOGY. 

opening of your soul in the silence, you will feel your 
worries and cares slip off like Christian's burden. And 
there will come upon you, settling down calmly and quietly, 
a deeper and larger self; a self whose power you know to 
be infinite because it is a part of the Infinite God-power, 
through which you feel yourself borne into a. new world 
of equanimity and usefulness, where harmony reigns alone, 
and where worry and annoyance cannot reach you, but 
must fall helpless outside like spent arrows from an enemy's 
hand. 

" Do this regularly for one month for at least half an 
hour each day, and oftener if you can and need it. At the 
end of this time you will, I think, if you are patient and 
earnest, find a new heaven and a new earth opened before 
you. You will, moreover, have found out the secret of true 
living, and the way to keep yourself immune from all worry 
and anxiety for the rest of your lifetime. Does it not seem 
worth trying?" 

To be sure, so long as one hugs the thought that worry 
" can't be helped," so long will the mind keep up its jogging 
along the line that frays out the powers of life. So long 
as one keeps the ear open to that which disturbs, enough 
that is disturbing will come. 

When one listens, with Macbeth, to the fancy, " Me- 
thought I heard a voice cry, ' Sleep no more ! Macbeth doth 
murder sleep/ " he cannot hear the contented Sancho Panza 
say, " Now Heaven bless the man who first invented sleep ! 
It covers a man over, thoughts and all, like a cloak/' 

The sleeplessness induced by work too one-sided is over- 






REST. 633 

come by a change of habit. Professional people whose 
affairs of business do not demand a play of physical powers 
often neglect sufficient bodily exercise; while muscle labor- 
ers often get " too tired to sleep." Many times recreation 
is possible, but the flagging powers are spurred on to do 
a little more for the hope of gain. This is not wise — or 
rather it might be called " penny-wise and pound-foolish." 
And such person has been the problem of the ages. 

A most important physical essential for wholesome, 
refreshing sleep is that the sleeping-room be daily exposed 
to the cleansing agencies of sun and air, and to keep a ven- 
tilation through the night. Many have been taught to 
believe that night air is bad; but the amount of oxygen 
stored in a room at time of retiring is soon exhausted by one 
sleeper, the length of time depending on the size of the 
room. It is much more wholesome to let in the " night 
air" (the only kind to be had at night) than to breathe 
over and over the poisoned exhalations from the lungs. 

A standard physiologist says, " The sleeping-room, in 
which one third of life is passed, ought to be so placed 
as to receive the direct sunlight for several hours each day. 
Each person ought to be allowed one hundred cubic feet of 
air space. If the sleeping-room is not provided with a fire- 
place in which there is a fire or light several hours in every 
twenty-four, then the upper sash should be kept lowered all 
the time, severe weather alone excepted. These precautions 
are most important; for, during the day our senses are 
active, and can so warn us that we may avoid breathing 
impure air. But during sleep, smell and taste do not give 



634 FEMINOLOGY. 

us early and efficient warning of the presence of impure air, 
as sewer gas or illuminating gas, and hence much injury 
may result ere we are warned or awakened. 

e?1 It is best for every person to occupy a separate bed." 

The sleeping-room should be ventilated in such a way 
that no drafts will blow across the body. Drafts, especially 
in cool weather, chill the body, and cause colds. 

The temperature of the sleeping- room is especially im- 
portant where there is tendency to delicacy of health. Dis- 
eases of the air passages and lungs require particular atten- 
tion. It is far better to sleep in a room that is temperate, 
with light covering, than to occupy a cold room, weighted 
down with heavy coverings. Heavy coverings have no 
argument in their favor; they are hard to air, and difficult 
to launder. Emanations from the body are absorbed and 
retained, to be returned to the system. No housewife 
should allow heavy comfortables to be a part of her furnish- 
ings ; they belong to the airy log-cabin period. 

The most refreshing rest is obtained when the sleeper 
is removed from everything that will act as a stimulus upon 
the nervous system. A customary thought has been that 
it is all in " getting used " to light, or sound, or motion 
that enables one to rest amid tumult. The sleeper may 
come to be unconscious of any stimulus to the nervous sys- 
tem, yet it is certain that reflex action is caused thereby; 
and rest so complete as that afforded in absolute quiet is 
not possible. Those whose homes are near railways, street- 
car lines, or public highways are in locations unfavorable 
to the best repose. 



REST. 635 

Ordinarily the best position for sleep, at least on first 
retiring, is to recline upon the right side. This favors the 
passage of any food that may remain in the stomach up to 
the hour of retiring ; by the time the position becomes weari- 
some, digestion will have been completed. 

Children should be taught to go to sleep in a correct 
attitude. The head should be but slightly raised, the mouth 
closed, and the chin resting upon the pillow, not upon the 
chest; the back should be straight, or if bent at all, in a 
hollow curve like the back of a horse, not in a round curve, 
like the back of a pig. Children should sleep alone in order 
best to attain a sturdy growth. 

Some physiologists assert that it is best to sleep with 
the head to the north, as that puts one in harmony with 
the electrical currents passing over the earth's surface. 

The pillow for the head should be only large enough to 
make the head easy when lying on the side; it is made 
preferably of husks, hair, pine shavings, rubber, or the pine 
needles that drop from evergreens in the fall of the year. 
This last is recommended to sufferers from catarrh. 

Persons whose business makes it necessary to sleep 
through the day should try to make conditions in their 
room as nearly like night as possible by excluding light and 
noise. 

Moments of rest, such as every busy person should give 
herself or himself through the working hours of the day, 
are best secured by assuming an easy physical position and 
abstracting the attention from external affairs. A position 
of much benefit to the writer is to sit resting the elbows 



636 FEMINOLOGY. 

on the desk, the forehead in the palms and fingers, with 
the thumbs over the opening of the ears; this excludes 
sight and sound. The idea of rest passed before the mind's 
eye secures a very helpful, though brief, period of relaxation. 

Lying down is the best position for complete rest; to 
the housewife this is always possible, and no one needs it 
more. At the first convenient moment when she finds her- 
self getting weary, she should lie down, and completely let 
go of care for a few moments. More rest is obtained in 
five minutes lying down than in a half hour otherwise. 

Some people still cling to the false notion that time spent 
in resting is wasted time. One woman who went to the 
country for a month, said, " I tell you I put in my time well. 
I made up two winter dresses for my little girl, made over 
a dress for myself, made a cloak for baby, and canned sixty 
jars of fruit. Berries of all kinds were so much cheaper 
and better there than in the city, and the farmer's wife let 
me use the kitchen at night. Then I made two gallons of 
sweet pickles and a gallon of watermelon preserves. 

" How some folks can sit or lie around reading, or just 
resting four or five weeks at a time, is a mystery to me." 

This busy economist of time was made helpless the fol- 
lowing winter through nervous prostration, proving the 
false basis of her theory. " Rest is God's medicine." 

Very many cases of disease may be cured by this same 
medicine. Falling of the womb, that curse of modern 
womanhood, has in many instances been overcome by the 
rest cure. One woman testified to the efficacy of the cure. 
She remained in bed for a period of six weeks with hips 



REST. 637 

elevated; and, though she has blessed the world by living 
past her threescore and ten, she never had a return of the 
prolapsus. The cure was effected in early womanhood. 

Dr. Dewey cites the case of a boy suffering from ap- 
pendicitis. His case required the work of surgery, but pre- 
vious to that he was " put on a fast " until hunger should 
demand food, then given nourishing food to fortify him 
for the trial to his strength. The shock of the operation, 
the after effect of the anesthetics, and the subsequent pain 
took away the appetite. Again his case was left to nature 
to demand food, which came on the third day. He lay on 
his back, with no muscular movement at all. On the fifth 
day there was a natural action of the bowels, and daily 
thereafter. On the fourteenth day he was sitting up, there- 
after going to bed only at night. 

All curative agencies are nature's own, and almost 
always is it best to keep hands off. The best human agency 
can do is to assist; and who is to say with absolute cer- 
tainty which doctor's prescription will not hinder instead 
of help? 

From the beginning of life to its close the body is the 
seat of ever-changing activity. In nearly all the functions 
of higher animal life there is a period of activity followed 
by a period of rest, one balancing the other. The highest 
achievements of either mental or physical activity are those 
which come through a graduated course of training up to 
one grand effort. Only accomplishments of mediocrity 
are possible where there is constant effort along the given 
line without the needful time for repose. 



638 FEMINOLOGY. 

Energies of mind or body constantly driven in one direc- 
tion deprive one of the power to change the current of 
thought or to enjoy the current when changed by another. 
This leads people to " talk shop " rather than questions of 
general interest. 

Persons who have never allowed themselves recreation, 
or relaxation, are not those who receive, or conceive, new 
ideas for the upbuilding of society or the betterment of their 
own personal conditions; nor will they accept of any new 
and improving ideas or methods until such has been forced 
upon them. They are the " conservatives " of society, who 
accept the thought and methods of ancestry because nothing 
new can find lodgment with them on account of the con- 
stant strain of energies. " The mind must be brought into 
a negative condition to receive new ideas." — Melendy. 
" The mind is wholly passive in the reception of all its 
simple ideas." — Locke. 

Another phase to the question of rest is that it ceases 
to become a benefit when sought from a sensuous love of 
ease or inactivity. " Sloth, like rust," said Franklin, " con- 
sumes faster than labor wears." One can form the habit 
of not doing, and follow it, until the power to do has waned. 
It is again an opportunity to replace that which is not good 
with that which is good; to "change the pictures in the 
gallery of the soul ; " to substitute the idea of usefulness for 
that of sensual love of ease. This may be difficult to do 
for the reason that self -contented persons are not those 
who are progressive. But nothing is impossible. Even 
confirmed lovers of ease can be aroused enough to give their 



REST. 639 

faculties exercise; and when awakened to the blessings of 
doing in ways of usefulness they are usually sufficiently 
alert to perceive the wisdom of not overdoing. 

Drowsiness is a kind of affliction that hangs like a pall 
over many unfortunates. There are those who are stupidly 
sleepy a large per cent of the time. It might be called a 
cow-like existence, or vegetation. When the physical 
demands of the body are supplied, sleep benumbs. It is 
the other extreme of the life of tension. From neither is 
derived the power to act with skill and promptness in 
emergencies. 

A new set of habits will have to replace the old, and a 
continuous mental effort will be necessary until a new con- 
dition is established. 

Upon awakening in the morning the afflicted one should 
get up directly. Do not turn over for another nap like 
the sluggard in the proverb who craved " a little more 
sleep and a little more slumber." That second sleep is 
enervating. Take a quick cool sponge bath, if strong 
enough ; rub the body till it glows ; dress at once, and begin 
some active exercise. If there is nothing to be done about 
the home, — many persons live where that is not possible, 
— take a walk, a bicycle ride, or a horseback ride; do 
something to send the blood coursing merrily through the 
veins. Therein is the source of vigor through which a 
normal state of health may be established, and before which 
the morbid drowsiness will disappear. 

" He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts 
the best." 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

BEAUTY. 

This subject, which is broad and deep as any that may 
be of use or interest to humankind, according to Webster, 
is "An assemblage of graces or properties pleasing to the 
eye, the ear, the intellect, the esthetic faculty, or the moral 
seise;" its basis is sound health, with thought that is 
>h and broad and deep. How sound health may be 
secured has previously been considered in this volume ; how 
to attain to clear thought is a question less understood, 
though hardly less simple; for it is only that the mind 
must first be divested of prejudice, ill will, worry, and 
kindred conditions, then "prove all things, and hold fast 
to the good." 

The lexicographer has placed the best kind of beauty 
last; that which is pleasing to the moral sense. This is 
the beauty that really wears. With that other beauty which 
is of the intellect, it forms the influence which dominates 
all other phases of beauty. " The prevailing state of mind, 
or character of thought," says Prentice Mulford, " shapes 
the body and the features. It makes us ugly or pleasing, 
attractive or repulsive to others. Our thought shapes our 
gestures, our mannerism, our walk. The least movement 
of muscle has a mood of mind, a thought behind it." 

" Look at the discontented, gloomy, melancholy, and ill— 
640 



BEAUTY. 641 

tempered men or women, and you see in their faces proof 
of the action of this silent force of their unpleasant thought, 
cutting, carving, and shackling them to their present expres- 
sion. Such people are never in good health." Vice versa: 
look at the cheery, even-tempered, happy person who has 
passed the meridian of life's noon, and see the lines upon 
the face ; they may mar the smoothness of the skin, but are 
none the less attractive, for they tell the story of goodness, 
strength, and uprightness. 

The nature of humankind is dual ; we are both spiritual 
and physical. Some few have been thoroughly awakened 
to the power of the spiritual, and have learned the lesson 
of subduing the animal. But for the majority there is an 
interdependence of the two natures. Mental states influ- 
ence physical conditions, and physical conditions in turn 
react on the mental states ; and the recognition of this fact 
is a valuable point for progress. Clean methodical habits 
in the physical realm, in their reaction lead to the same state 
in the mental and moral realm. 

From babyhood up the mind should be trained to deal 
lightly with care and unpleasantness ; to look for the " good 
in everything. ,, Always there may be found some passing 
phases of life and environment not nearly perfect, if one 
is looking for flaws. On the trees of the forest there are 
few perfect leaves to be found, or branches formed accord- 
ing to exact geometrical calculation. 

" In beauty faults conspicuous grow, 

The smallest speck is seen on snow." 
41 



642 FEMINOLOGY. 

Everything in nature grows according to the condition 
in which it is placed. Sometimes trees lean all in one direc- 
tion, according to the way the wind blows most; or if 
there are many, the growth is tall and spindling instead of 
developing thickness of trunk. In the majority of human- 
kind the same rule holds ; people are as good and as beau- 
tiful as conditions admit, for the reason that they allow 
circumstances to govern them instead of developing the 
inner life and grappling circumstances. We can constantly 
be rasped and made unhappy by taking mental notes of 
all that jars on the sensibilities, instead of noting what there 
is of good. The mind can be trained to alertness in looking 
for that which is best the same as in looking for imperfec- 
tions, not within our immediate power to correct. 

A necessity to the upbuilding of a life which will be 
pleasing " to the moral sense " is to learn the power of 
thought force for good or ill. Energy, or force, repre- 
sented by physical activity, tears down the tissues of the 
body; creative force during repose restores and upbuilds. 
That creative force may do its perfect work peaceful, loving 
thought should pervade the mind, because this allies one 
to the harmonies of the universe. The heart's action is 
always noticeably affected by any great emotion. Fright 
will, for a moment, cause the pulse to stop, and then to 
beat with full, choking throbs while the spell lasts. Anxiety 
causes palpitation of the heart; grief causes it to move 
slowly and heavily, and respiration to be scant. A sudden 
shock, either of joy or grief or fright, often causes the 
bowels to move; with others there is an attack of constipa- 




MUSIC IN THE TINE WOO P. 



BEAUTY. 643 

tion; all of which adds proof of the dominating power 
of thought. 

Prof. Henry Wood says, " It has long been conceded 
by scientific and medical men that hate deforms, disinte- 
grates, and destroys the physical organism; that anger, 
hatred, ill will, and anxiety bring mental and physical chaos. 
While this fact has been conceded and accepted by all, we 
have been slow to recognize that the opposite of hate will 
have an opposite effect; that if hate destroys, love builds 
up, renovates, and restores." 

Professor Shaftesbury says : " Despondency is a volun- 
tary veiling of the mind which tends to dry up the fluids 
of health ; and no department of the body is more dependent 
upon healthful fluids than the brain. 

" There is nothing in our dispositions or emotions that 
we cannot help as long as our brain is sound. When we 
cross the line into insanity we then become irritable. The 
person who inherits the disposition to hate mankind is not 
of sound mind; nor can correctness of judgment, evenness 
of mental operations, or fairness and justice repose in one 
who finds it easy to hate or seek revenge. 

" All irritability, dark moods, meanness, hatred, and 
desire for revenge will destroy the mind's health as well as 
lay the foundation for disease; and on this down grade all 
persons travel willingly, if at all. The brain is agitated by 
every emotion. Many a person has brought on headache 
and some fit of sickness by yielding to anger. The stomach 
is directly connected (by a system of nerves) with the brain; 
so closely indeed that an unpleasant thought stops diges- 



644 FEMINOLOGY. 

tion. An unhappy person has no appetite. Anger causes 
the stomach to recoil against food. A morose person 
absorbs bile into the blood, and chronic melancholy is the 
result. 

" If the down grade to the realm of hatred and revenge 
is a voluntary one, so the up grade to a sunny disposition 
must be a willing one. Of course we know it is easier to 
be ugly and revengeful than happy and bright, but dia- 
monds do not fall from the sky like rain; they must be 
sought. There are ways of growing into a cheerful dis- 
position, and they are founded on laws as certain as mathe- 
matical rules. 

" I. Never look on the dark side of anything. 

" 2. If there is but one side to a thing, and that all dark, 
try to imagine what the other side would be, if it had 
one. 

" 3. Never take anything for granted. 

" 4. Never draw conclusions from circumstances. This 
leads to more unhappiness in the world than any other fail- 
ing in human nature. 

" 5. Never allow suspicion to enter the mind. Business 
men think it is necessary to suspect all persons with whom 
they deal, on the principle that it furnishes a safeguard 
against fraud; but if you never take anything for granted, 
you will never be cheated, and this may be done without 
entertaining suspicion. 

" 6. Study your fellow-beings with a view to rinding 
out their good qualities. 



BEAUTY. 645 

" 7. Never advise a person to avoid speaking ill of 
others while you yourself do not follow the advice. 

" 8. Read good books, think good thoughts, and lead 
pure lives. 

" 9. Make up your mind that a kind disposition is attain- 
able only by watchful care; and then resolve to drill ill- 
natured thoughts out of your mind forever and forever." 

The ideals of the mind seek ever to actualize themselves ; 
but as Robert Browning puts it, — 

"What hand and brain went ever paired? 
What heart alike conceived and dared ? " 

Suffice it to say that no ideal of uprightness, no thought of 
things ennobling, was ever too high to benefit the person in 
whose brain it was conceived. The only caution is to try 
to preserve equilibrium by not neglecting affairs of every 
day while contemplating lofty ideals. Helen Wilmans says 
it better: — 

" Lift your glance to the star of your highest ideal, but 
bring it back to the earth. The upward glance will give 
you inspiration, the downward will show you where that 
inspiration can be applied in all noble and magnificent 
endeavor.' , 

One of Whittier's poetic prayers will be found helpful 
to those striving to lead a life of beauty " pleasing to the 
moral sense : " — 

" If there be some weaker one, 
Give me strength to help him on. 
If a blinder soul there be, 



646 FEMINOLOGY. 

Let me guide him nearer thee. 
Clothe with life the weak intent, 
Let me be the thing I meant. 
Make my mortal dreams come true, 
With the work I fain would do." 

No one person possesses all the virtues, and it is a very 
rare individual in whom a balance is preserved among those 
virtues that are possessed. Speaking the truth is by many 
accented as a becoming trait of character, but unless the 
spirit of love governs the truth-teller, very much of unhap- 
piness follows in her wake. It may be right to say what 
one thinks, but hand in hand with it should go the self- 
imposed edict that none but kindly thoughts are allowable. 
This drills one into the habit out of which grows a beautiful 
soul. 

A sense of justice — the feeling of an eye for an eye, 
a tooth for a tooth — suggests to many that the manner 
toward our fellow-creatures should be taken from their 
manner toward us; while others assume austere dignity 
until thawed by kindliness from outside. This often leads 
to manifest ungraciousness in everyday intercourse. A 
kindly, courteous bearing coming from self-respect can 
never be wrong in whatever company one may be. The 
powers of life are doubled when, added to other gifts, is 
that of unfailing courtesy which expresses neither stiffness 
nor condescension. As little children at school many of 
us were taught to repeat the couplet : — 

"Politeness is to do and say 
The kindest thing in the kindest way." 



BEAUTY. 647 

But too seldom in this world of ours does the meaning 
penetrate to the real ego. In its stead a veneer, an outward 
semblance of the spirit, is acquired, which may be put on 
or off according to the company, or the person addressed. 
This is commonly current in the social relations, and will 
do for lack of that which is better because it makes people 
publicly tolerable to each other. But it leaves an inhar- 
mony between the inner life and its outward expression 
not conducive to moral health, which is beauty, and pleasing 
to the normally developed moral sense. 

Among the mental graces pleasing to the moral sense 
may be named Kindness, Patience, Economy, Purity, Gentle- 
ness, Forgiveness, Self-Control, Justice, Cheerfulness, In- 
dustry, Honesty, Obedience. 

These are the offspring of Love and Wisdom, the chil- 
dren of good thoughts. When one phase is cultivated at 
the expense of the rest, we have a biased, unwholesome 
individual; as, for instance, the miser who overestimates 
the virtue of economy. Who is to say which should be 
supreme, when all are needed to round out character toward 
the growth of perfection? 

All impressions of beauty pleasing to the esthetic fac- 
ulty are received through the five recognized physical senses. 
The recognition of the beautiful is evidence of the unfold- 
ment of that faculty, which training along any given line 
or lines develops and perfects. All the beautiful in nature 
and art feeds the esthetic sense, from the enjoyment of 
the growth of green in the spring to the changing color of 
the leaves in autumn ; from the glory of sea and mountain 



648 FEMINOLOGY. 

to the transferal of their color and spirit to canvas; from 
the warble of birds and the hum of insects to the trained 
voices of humans, and the trained brain and fingers that can 
draw sweet harmonies from dumb instruments. It develops 
the artist in whatever field of life, the musician, painter, 
poet, housewife, nurse, dressmaker, cook — all of beautiful 
or useful employment is made better by the unfolding of 
the esthetic sense. It gives a truer, finer conception of 
physical surroundings, and the possibilities of development, 
adding power of understanding to the soul. 

That phase of esthetics which bears upon the expression 
and embodiment of beauty by art is of especial interest to 
woman in the realm of dress and physical culture, or bodily 
expression. 

Taste in dress as to fabric, color, cut, drapery, and appro- 
priateness is desired and desirable to all, though possessed 
by few. The mythical goddess of fashion is obeyed more 
or less implicitly by the majority of womankind, and some 
of mankind, without regard to health or lines of beauty. 

" True dress," says an artist, " gives the greatest free- 
dom, and freedom combined with utility need never be 
opposed to art." Again, " Freedom and beauty are twins, 
and woman should seek for both in dress, if she desires her 
work to be felt." 

" Dress should be no hindrance to anything we wish to 
do and should always give us freedom of body." 

" Beauty includes appropriateness." 

So to dress for the approval of reason, and for our own 



BEAUTY. 649 

and our neighbor's artistic approval, there are several points 
for consideration. 

To begin at the beginning, every article that cramps 
or hinders free action must be put away forever. The union 
undergarment for warmth should be substituted for the 
two-piece underwear with its confining inelastic band; that 
gives opportunity for perfect use of the body. Then what- 
ever skirts are worn should be fastened to a waist, that the 
muscles of the trunk or abdomen are not weakened thereby. 
The outside garment must, of course, be suitable to the 
occasion upon which it is worn. 

A garment designed for a housewife who is a " general 
utility servant " is of wash material with a round waist 
and plain skirt reaching the top of the shoes. In this there 
is no danger of treading on her skirt when stooping or in 
going upstairs. 

Better yet for working purposes is the Syrian dress 
which has a divided skirt. Of course, there is prejudice 
against short skirts, or divided skirts, but usually when a 
woman has developed the hardihood to think for herself 
she has outgrown the fear of prejudice. 

Mrs. Talbot, in that splendid book for girls, entitled 
" Koradine Letters," says : " Is there any reason why the 
lower six or seven inches of dress skirts should be held with 
the sacredness and reverence they now are? 

"A woman may cut a piece deep and wide from the top 
of her dress; she may wear enormous puffed sleeves or 
none at all, absurd collars, bustles, hoops, any kind of 



6$o FEMINOLOGY. 

deformity that fashion dictates, without a protest; she may 
even drag the bottom of a dress of the finest material in 
the filthiest streets, or lift long skirts to expose her legs 
above her knees, but must not at any time shorten her skirts 
and make them decent, cleanly, and convenient." 

One common-sense lady recently showed the writer her 
business suit. It looked very much a la mode — a skirt, 
jacket, and shirt-waist. But the skirt was built on a 
princess foundation, the shirt-waist effect being sewed to 
the waist front. The opening was down the front and 
concealed by that flap arrangement frequently used on 
bicycle skirts. The jacket, of course, was like ordinary 
jackets. The whole was a harmony in brown near the shade 
of the lady's hair and eyes. An agreeable feature also was 
the fact that no petticoats were worn at all. The skirt was 
well lined to preserve its shape, and the lady wore the union 
undergarment and equestrian tights for warmth of body, 
and common-sense foot gear. This was a very restful sug- 
gestion of freedom in dress, and which did not offend the 
rock-ribbed senseless conventions. 

The artistic dress for full-dress affairs may be as much 
in harmony with fashion as the true woman will allow. She 
may make a few concessions to the prevailing mode if she 
likes, provided it is not such as to make her uncomfortable. 
But inasmuch as the full-dress affairs are not the bone and 
sinew of average life, less thought is required as to their 
fittings. It is always well at such affairs to avoid collision 
with popular prejudices as much as possible. Freedom 
means breadth in which to move, and one who is master of 



BEAUTY. 651 

her own mind can easily swerve aside to allow to pass one 
who can think only in the given lines of conventions. 

The expression of strength, smoothness, and beauty 
through physical action is one of the most attractive depart- 
ments of beauty " pleasing to the esthetic faculty.'* The 
basis upon which this culture rests is that the body is the 
servant of the soul, and through training it is enabled more 
gracefully, and with economy of strength, to express the 
will. Awkward physical action comes from the fact that 
we have not come to understand thoroughly the power by 
which the machine, our body, is operated. After compre- 
hending the theory, frequent, systematic practice enables 
the machine to respond with ease, grace, and power. 

"A true system of physical culture," said Miss King, a 
teacher, to the Congress of Mothers, " properly taught, aids 
in building up ideal character. First, through its effect 
upon the health, for in the nature of things health affects 
character. Again, health of body leads to equanimity of 
mind and gives a moral direction to the intellectual activ- 
ities." This is in recognition of the interdependence of 
spiritual and physical conditions of the average person. 

No two individuals will use the same gesture to express 
a similar feeling, although all make the expression within 
a certain law. To understand the law, to see the reason 
for an expression, enables one more fully to endow both 
word and gesture with meaning. 

" They who act and read intelligently must needs get 
beyond the methods set down for action, accent, and pro- 
nunciation. These, however, are indispensable, for they 



652 FEMINOLOGY. 

are the colors and figures which make the representation 
alive with beauty and power. But to be able to create the 
form which is to wear this clothing one must go into the 
infinite realm of soul, or higher consciousness, for its true 
interpretation. When this is done, it will spring forth as 
the leaf or flower, perfect in shape and shading as no set 
rule or definition could make it, for it comes with the seal 
of that particular soul's divination upon it, and is for it and 
none other."- — Mrs. Talbot. 

The genius, the artist who conveys meaning to the 
understanding in the most subtle degree cannot be copied; 
an imitator can never put the same construction upon the 
same idea. Two artists interpreting the same theme will 
make the difference of conception noticeable. No two 
Hamlets have ever been alike though presented by the best 
of actors. Likewise all the Juliets, Portias, Camilles, Car- 
mens, Lady Macbeths, have received distinct individual 
coloring from different interpreters. Mental culture enables 
one to understand, but it takes mental, spiritual, and phys- 
ical culture, along with a special adaptability, to do any 
given line of artistic work in the best possible way. 

Beauty that appeals to the intellect is best comprehended 
and appreciated by those trained in similar channels, for it 
is only the few who are fortunate enough to be more than 
ordinarily developed in other than one or two directions. 
A finished scholar may be admired from the hilltop of 
greatness by the crowd in the valley, but for the true spirit 
of comradery so dear and satisfying to the heart, he or she 
will need some one who can comprehend the underlying 



BEAUTY. 653 

principles of an interesting life work. Men and women are 
often unhappily mismated in the marriage relation because 
one of the pair cannot understand the other in the phase of 
life's chief interest. A man who had no music in his soul 
married a woman who delighted in that art. After the 
honeymoon days passed he would command her to " stop 
that damned noise " whenever he chanced to hear her piano- 
playing. A woman with no literary instinct married a 
story-writer; with no understanding of the requirements 
of his work, she became first fretful, then jealous, then 
unbearable. 

Beauty " pleasing to the intellect " is, therefore, only for 
those of like greater or less intellectual and spiritual develop- 
ment. It is a sealed book to all others. 

The assemblage of graces or properties " pleasing to 
the eye and ear " suggest varied shades of moral and intel- 
lectual development, as between the most savage and civi- 
lized persons. The several races of man have standards for 
attractive dress and pleasing deportment that differ infi- 
nitely; so that what is pleasing in one quarter of the globe 
may have no standing in another. 

The advanced Caucasian idea of beauty we believe to 
be founded on scientific knowledge of what is required for 
the adornment, comfort, convenience, and general good of 
our kind. But the science has not been reduced to exact- 
ness yet, and each individual interprets according to that 
point of the circle of truth beheld and comprehended by 
him. From the savage woman pleased by the monotonous 
sound of the tom-tom, the dazzling primary colors, and 



654 FEMIXOLOGY. 

barbaric personal adornment, to the cultured woman who 
understands the most delicate harmonies, is a long ascend- 
ing ladder, representing the varied scales of mental and 
spiritual unfoldment. Though, from the state of rudeness 
on through the ascending scale, there is something of good 
to be preserved from each for soil in which to evolve the 
next higher ; the savage woman's robustness of physique is 
desirable even in the woman of highest culture. 

The prevailing standard of beauty of the country or 
community in which one lives may be followed in its gen- 
eral trend, unless one is absolutely sure one's own is better. 
But having learned the better, one's duty becomes to make 
it so attractive that others will follow. 

Personal beauty which includes proper care of the per- 
son, and the dress and adornments, should receive its due 
measures of thought, it being one of the phases of good or 
bad influence upon associates and self. The place for such 
consideration is in privacy, the time usually the morning 
or evening, or both. These personal details should receive 
our best thought for the time being, and then be dismissed. 
See to it that person and dress are immaculate when the 
work of the day begins; that is the stamp, the sign-manual, 
of true gentility. The hair may be wind-blown or the gown 
become soiled thereafter, and the person grimy, but these 
are the things to be corrected with each day's beginning. 
Keep as nearly in the mode as may be without sacrificing 
health or beauty principles. 

Ruskin advises each person to " find out what you are." 
" If you dare not do so," said he, " find out why you dare 



BEAUTY. 655 

not, and try to get strength of heart enough to look yourself 
fairly in the face, in mind as well as body. I do not doubt 
but that the mind is a less pleasant thing to look at than the 
face, and for that very reason it needs more looking at ; so 
always have two mirrors on your toilet table, and see that 
with proper care you dress body and mind before them 
daily." 

We shall not be able to " see ourselves as others see 
us," because others see only effects; while introspection 
enables us to see both causes and effects. Making our 
external and internal selves a study enables us to correct 
faults as we go along. Perhaps we shall never be satisfied 
with our work of improvement, for it is a long road to per- 
fection, but every advancing step enables one to take the 
next step beyond. Out of such work comes a self-respect- 
ing pride on which one can lean, as it were, to rest for a 
moment, and be comforted for having done the best we can. 

True beauty, wherever to be found, is always valued by 
those whose opinions are worth while. It is making the 
best of one's natural gifts by growth from within. Between 
it and the beauty of artificiality is the difference between 
the living and those not living. One is the unfolding of 
vitality, the other the additions from without ; one is of the 
soul, the other of materiality; one increases while the 
powers of good shall last, the other fades with youth. 

Is it needful to ask which stamp of beauty should be 
striven for? 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

SOCIAL LIFE. 

Mankind is gregarious. He is living in harmony with 
nature when he lives in communities. When an individual, 
from choice, separates his or her life from that of their 
kind, abnormalities develop. Their moods and variable- 
ness of temper are noticeable when necessity brings them 
in contact with others. It is never well for any one to 
neglect the social side of human nature. It has its part 
to play in the development of character, as much as work- 
a-day, or serious affairs ; but one phase should not overleap 
the other. 

The best society is where one may, on an equal foot- 
ing, meet others for a free interchange of thought, relaxa- 
tion, and stimulation. 

A recent writer, defining the term " gentleman," as 
acceptable to the Anglo-Saxon world of the present age, 
says : — 

" The gentleman of to-day is the individual who best 
adapts himself to prevailing circumstances by not stopping 
the general flow of things with an intrusion, when not 
strictly necessary, of his own personality. He is the indi- 
vidual who puts no oversensitive valuation on his own 
personal standards, interferes little with others, has the 
silent courage of his own conduct, but no itch to explain 
656 



SOCIAL LIFE. 657 

it or himself, or to impose on a preoccupied world that 
has no time and less patience. 

" That man is most acceptable to his fellows all round, 
who least obtrudes in personal discourse the insistent per- 
sonal note. . . . We must positively not stop the wheels 
of things, and nothing stops them as do the uneasy per- 
sonal vanity and deficient self-control of individuals." 

This code might seem to make personal character color- 
less, but it is only true as that all the soldiers of a regiment 
look alike. It is the coat of mail to keep self in the back- 
ground for the good of the whole. Really the basic prin- 
ciple in the social relation is to do unto others as you would 
that others do unto you. And in so far as general society 
depends on ostentation and display, rather than the spirit 
of friendliness and good-fellowship, so far has there been 
a wandering from the original intention, and from the 
good to be derived from individuals composing the body. 
In society, as elsewhere, its good or ill is to be known by 
the fruits. Whenever there is ill feeling, jealousy, ran- 
coring, and the like, the core is rottening, and a new order 
of things demands establishing. 

There are very many grades of society, from the froth 
which considers amusement the chief business of existence, 
to the dregs which are the strata of crime and degradation. 
In America's unsettled condition, more or less of both froth 
and dregs are mixed throughout. And the important part 
played by individuality is here to be seen. One either may 
or may not make the whole fabric better or worse, accord- 
ing to knowledge and choice. It is far better to follow 
42 



658 FEMINOLOGY. 

good principles than bad fashions, though one should not 
be needlessly aggressive in so doing. The point is to respect 
the person and rights of others up to the line where yield- 
ing infringes on self-respect. 

Ease of manner in intercourse with our fellow-creatures 
is much to be desired, and this is best instilled by frequent 
contact, with one's best nature outward and uppermost, 
always. One who is naturally amiable more readily ac- 
quires that suavity of manner which is the hall-mark of 
" good breeding." But it is the veneer, the make-believe 
friendliness, which repels many individuals who would be 
good and useful members of society, and keeps them to 
themselves. There are really many persons so numb in 
spiritual consciousness as not to be able to distinguish that 
an assumed air of kindliness is not so good as genuine 
kindly feeling, and coddle their personal arrogance and 
selfishness in the background. As well compare the liv- 
ing, creative influence of the real and the make-believe 
to sunlight and moonlight. 

There are many conventionalities in Anglo-Saxon life 
which must be observed, and these must be acquired through 
observation, which often entails unhappy embarrassment, 
or from reading. One of the friendliest little books par- 
ticularly helpful to girls is Mrs. Sherwood's "A Trans- 
planted Rose." 

Some of the forms to be observed and points to be 
avoided are subjoined under the following heads: — 

Table Etiquette. 

Street Etiquette. 



SOCIAL LIFE. 659 

Parlor Etiquette. 

Rules of Salutation. 

Art of Conversation. 

Miscellaneous Etiquette. 

Of course, each person interprets these forms through 
a different individuality, but attentive cultivation brings a 
very perfect pitch of smoothness for all. 

1. Table Etiquette. — Sit at the table in an upright posi- 
tion. Do not half recline on either table or chair. 

Spread the napkin over your lap. It is no longer con- 
sidered correct to cover the breast or fasten the napkin to 
a buttonhole, except in the case of very young children. 

Be composed, and join pleasantly in the general con- 
versation. Display no impatience to be served. 

If the meal is in courses, it is always better to be helped 
to each course, though you may not care for it, to save 
yourself a position of awkwardness while others are eating. 

Eat slowly, without noise, without filling the mouth 
too full, and with the lips closed. 

The food should be conveyed to the mouth with fork 
and spoon; the knife is used for cutting. Do not incline 
the head too much, or dip the neck and shoulders reaching 
for the food; it suggests too much the lower animals. 

When eating soup, drink it from the side of the spoon, 
without sound. Do not break the crackers into it; eat 
them from the fingers dry. 

When asked for a preference, respond promptly; that 
simplifies matters for the person serving. 



66o FEMINOLOGY. 

Avoid introducing any disgusting or dismal subject at 
the table. Cheerfulness aids digestion. 

Do not place waste matter on the tablecloth; the side 
of the plate or empty side dishes may be used as receptacles 
for bones, potato skins, fruit parings, etc. 

Break the bread instead of cutting it. 

Good form requires that a man shall not appear at table 
in his shirt sleeves. 

Never put your fingers in your mouth, or pick your 
teeth at table. 

Never carry food from the table with you, nor leave 
with food in the mouth. 

As a hygienic precaution, never allow yourself to eat 
too much. Gluttony easily becomes a habit, when one per- 
mits himself to eat because food is pleasing to the taste; 
and this habit makes one gross, drawing the likeness closely 
and more close to that lower animal which " lives to eat." 

Table servitors should be treated with courtesy always, 
although it is not correct to apologize for troubling them. 
It is their business to serve. 

2. Street Etiquette. — A lady will bow first, if she meets 
a gentleman acquaintance on the street. He will lift his 
hat entirely from his head. 

Avoid stopping on the street for conversation. Two 
ladies may seek some private place, or a gentleman may 
turn and walk with a lady, or two men may do the same. 

Never call across the street, and never in a public con- 
veyance converse across the aisle. --.".■ — * 



SOCIAL LIFE. 66 1 

When walking with a lady, a gentleman should accom- 
modate his pace to hers. 

Avoid fast walking, unless trying to make a train or 
meet an appointment, or for some other unavoidable cause. 

Never stare at any one on the street, nor talk loud, nor 
laugh immoderately. 

When persons pass each other, the same rule is to be 
observed as for drivers of vehicles — keep to the right. 

A gentleman accompanying a lady should walk at her 
left, and should carry any small parcel with which she may 
be encumbered. 

No gentleman will smoke when walking with a lady. 

The formality of an introduction is never necessary 
where it can be seen assistance is needed. 

A quiet, unobtrusive manner upon the street can never 
fail to be correct for either sex of any age. 

It is no longer customary for a lady to take the arm 
of a gentleman upon the street. 

3. Parlor Etiquette. — There are fewer forms to be 
observed at this point than at any other. This is the ground 
for free intercourse. 

A lady receives her friends in the parlor, or drawing- 
room. The visitor salutes the hostess first and last. 

Strangers are made acquainted with each other, the 
fact of their being guests at the same place being assurance 
of the desirability of the introduction. 

Avoid all awkwardness of attitude. (Note Chapter 
XXVI, this volume.) 



662 FEMINOLOGY. 

All irritability and gloominess must be laid aside. In 
conversation the countenance must be pleasant, interest in 
what is being said making itself manifest. 

Never indicate a person or object by pointing. 

Nothing should ever be said or done to give offense; 
on the other hand, never be on the alert to take anything 
to be an offense. 

Here, as elsewhere, be self-poised. It is considered bad 
form to be lolling, gesticulating, or nervously restless, or 
shy. 

4. Rules of Salutation. — An older person should be 
first to greet a younger. 

Gentlemen are presented to ladies, who need not rise, 
except to greet old gentlemen or others whose rank they 
wish to recognize. 

Ladies when introduced should rise and shake hands. 

It is right for a lady to recognize male friends first; 
unless a gentleman is a very intimate friend, he waits for 
such recognition. 

In passing acquaintances more than once on the street, 
salute the first time; a smile or a look is sufficient thereafter. 

Etiquette for the hat of a gentleman is manifold, and 
is a very pretty custom which has been transmitted from 
medieval times. The hat is raised from the head on greet- 
ing an acquaintance of either sex, with the hand farther 
away from the person saluted; this is to avoid hiding the 
face, even for an instant, behind the hand or arm. The 
hat is lifted when a gentleman accompanies a friend who 



SOCIAL LIFE. 663 

recognizes an acquaintance; is lifted when addressing an 
aged person, or any to whom especial respect seems due; 
is lifted at once when entering a private house or public 
place of worship or entertainment; and so on. 

5. The Art of Conversation. — It is most easy to con- 
verse with one whom you know you can meet on com- 
mon ground, but it becomes an art to know what to say 
to a recent acquaintance. All the commonplace subjects 
are apt to be worn threadbare before familiar ground of 
interest is discovered. Our social life consists chiefly of 
conversation, and nothing can be more embarrassing or 
awkward than to have the brain left blank of any suitable 
subject for speech. Since conversation is the life of the 
social body, each member should try to talk well, and this 
requires practice. A familiar acquaintance with the best 
current literature is almost an essential to a good talker; 
also a thorough knowledge of the English language. One 
is then pretty certain to use words in their proper relation. 
When this is not done, the effect is flat, if not positively 
painful to listeners whose knowledge of language is 
correct. 

But the great secret of talking well is to adapt your 
conversation to your company as skillfully as may be. 

There is such a thing as talking too much, as well as 
too little, apropos to which George Eliot said, " Compre- 
hensive talkers are apt to be tiresome when we are not 
athirst for information, but, to be quite fair, we must 
admit that superior reticence is a good deal due to the 



664 FEMINOLOGY. 

lack of matter. Speech is often barren; but silence does 
not necessarily brood over a full nest. Your still fowl, 
blinking at you without remark, may all the while be sitting 
on one addled nest-egg, and when it takes to cackling 
will have nothing to announce but that addled delusion." 

A good conversationalist is, or ought to be, a sympa- 
thetic listener, and able to assist the halting or weak over 
shoals of despair by encouragement, and drawing them 
out of a state of self-consciousness. This feature distin- 
guishes one who is out for soul-growth, or self-uplifting, 
from one who desires merely to be amused. 

To be a good listener one must be tolerant to a degree, 
not of any fault that may express itself, but of the indi- 
vidual. One who hears you may be bored, but one who 
talks freely is not. Be careful, however much you may 
feel moved to speak, — and you may talk much if you have 
much to say, — to give others space for reply. After exact- 
ing attention, be just enough not to forget to be patient 
and receptive in your turn. 

No one in any assembly will be happy to be labeled 
second best, nor will you ever be personally liked if you 
rivet upon them a sense of their own inferiority, or pre- 
vent them from doing themselves justice. Encourage peo- 
ple to talk upon what interests them; you may also learn 
something. 

Don't fear or resent overmuch people's bad opinion, 
but take care not to deserve it. It is very common, though 
an unhappy habit, for a certain class of persons to regard 
every one unfavorably until time proves them mistaken. 



SOCIAL LIFE. 665 

One who is well poised and sure of himself will never be 
troubled by slanderous tongues. 

We should speak loud enough to be heard, and with 
perfect distinctness. An even flow of speech in well modu- 
lated tones, is a great comfort to hearers. As to the matter, 
we must make best use of what is at hand, if of interest 
to the company. We must take the general tone, as in 
chorus singing, else we may be out of harmony with the 
rest. 

All vulgarity, sharpness, or anger is absolutely unfor- 
givable. And if we must be careful to avoid giving pain, 
we must the more be careful not to remark of any one 
anything apt to injure him in the estimation of others. 

Always yield the point in an argument when your 
opponent becomes heated. 

In telling a joke, control the laugh until the point is 
reached. 

In responding to a person, it is no longer considered 
correct to say, "No, sir," or "Yes, ma'am/' as in past 
generations. Use the name instead ; as, " No, Dr. Thomp- 
son," or " Yes, Mrs. Brown." Any one who may have 
a prefix other than Mr. or Mrs., should not be addressed 
by that prefix alone; as, " Colonel," " General," " Bishop," 
" Doctor," " Judge." It would be quite as correct to say 
" Mister " or " Misses " without the surname. 

Never correct a fault in pronunciation in company. 

If you carry on a thread of conversation after a stranger 
joins the crowd, recapitulate what has been said before 
his arrival. 



666 FEMINOLOGY. 

Always avoid boisterous laughter and loud talk. 

There are many common errors of speech which must 
be avoided in polite circles, among which may be noted the 
following : — 

A not infrequent mistake among even good speakers 
and writers, is the substitution of had for would before 
such adverbs as rather, sooner, better, etc. " I had better 
go," instead of "' I would better go." " I had as lief take 
one as the other." instead of " I would as lief take one as 
the ether. " 

The confusion of the words sit and set and the words 
lay and lie, is to be noticed on all sides. This can easily 
be avoided by remembering that set and lay are transitive 
verbs — you set or lay somethir.g. You set a pitcher of 
water on the table, or lay down a book. The sentence, 
"' Some of the children lie on the grass, while others sit on 
the doorstep," shows a correct use of the words lie and sit. 

There is great persistency even among those who know 
better, to misuse the objective pronouns me, her, him, them, 
after the various tenses of to be. Instead of saying " It is 
I," " It was she," etc., the objectives are used. 

Probably there is nothing more common than ain't and 
hain't for is or are not, and has or have not. 

Our language not having a common pronoun in the 
singular, a natural mistake is to use the plural pronoun; 
as. "' If a person is poor, they should make the best of ::." 
The masculine is preferred. 

In the haste of the day or the moment, words are abbre- 
viated oftentimes, or articulation is imperfect. We say 



SOCIAL LIFE. 667 

goiri \ comin' , mar chin', cutting off the inoffensive g's with- 
out mercy; likewise the final d's are lost; as, "Mary an' 
I are expectin' to go." Do not allow the habit to become 
established ; it mars the beauty of speech, and, among stran- 
gers, will certainly be the cause of stamping you as uncul- 
tured. But do not be noticeably careful, as that is tedious 
to listeners. 

The past tense and the present participle are confused. 
Have saw, have went, etc., are used instead of have seen 
or have gone. " She has came/' should be, " She has 
come." 

Superfluous words in expressing any thought are to 
be avoided. There is dignity in simplicity. Many words 
make the sense obscure. 

Do not say, " I lifted it up," or " The child fell down; " 
the up and down are, of course, understood. 

Do not use double superlatives; as, the most highest, 
most finest, etc., 

Instead of saying, " A new pair of shoes/' say, " A 
pair of new shoes." 

Avoid such exclamations as " Great Heavens ! " " Good 
Lord ! " " My God ! " as unnecessary and inelegant. Explo- 
sives are not needed, presumably, in an even-toned, self- 
controlled society. 

Long arguments should be avoided in general com- 
pany. They are uninteresting, except to those engaged. 

Never "talk shop" in society. Subjects of more gen- 
eral interest are to be preferred. One wants freedom from 
business on an evening out. 



668 FEMINOLOGY. 

Do not interrupt the speech of another. 

Religion and politics are two subjects safe to avoid, 
as almost every one has pronounced views thereon; and 
the prejudices of others should never be aroused. 

6. Miscellaneous Points. — Be cheerful. If you cannot 
be that, do not inflict your presence upon others. But 
above all things, do not cherish the disagreeable for your 
own sake. If you are not a fit companion for others, you 
are not for your better self. 

Never play practical jokes; no one has the true fine- 
ness of feeling who will place another in a position of 
embarrassment. And sometimes the joker gets joked. 

To ridicule any one who is deformed physically, who 
is not dressed in taste, or who may be awkward, is a vio- 
lation of the basic principle of society. 

It is always best to avoid any familiarity with new 
acquaintances. 

If one accepts favors and hospitalities, it must mean 
that the same is to be returned whenever opportunity offers. 

Always adopt a pleasant address, whether speaking to 
equals or inferiors. The principle illustrated by George 
Washington, when he raised his hat to a colored man who 
saluted him, shows the true spirit of gentility. 

In case of accident, control any feeling of excitement, 
impatience, or anger. 

If you cannot avoid passing between two persons who 
are conversing, always offer an apology for so doing. 

Married people sometimes speak of each other by the 



SOCIAL LIFE. 669 

first name in general society ; this is only pardonable among 
intimates. A wife sometimes calls her husband " Smith," 
or " Brown," which is not any more correct because of 
their relation. Above all, never call each other " he " or 
"she;" both have a name. It is preferable, also, to use 
the name rather than the term " wife " or " husband." Say 
" Mr. Jones " or " Mrs. Smith." 

The art of giving and receiving presents may not always 
be finely suited to the occasion. A generous person may 
not always please when such is the intention, nor a really 
appreciative recipient have the tact to> say the fitting thing. 

A good memory enables one in society to avoid inap- 
propriate subjects, which makes the run of affairs more 
smooth. 

Boasting is one of the most objectionable of habits. If 
one has remarkably good points, trust to the discernment 
of associates. One's ancestry, or travels, or money may 
afford food for self-congratulation, but cultivate modesty 
for the good of others. Egotism is very rarely of the 
likable variety. 

Never refuse a gift, unless you have a good reason for 
so doing, and manifest appreciation for the kindness of 
heart that prompted. 

When writing to request a favor, or for information, 
never fail to inclose a stamp for reply. 

Always speak the truth. This is the very foundation 
of character. 

Never make promises you have no intention of ful- 
filling. 



670 FEMINOLOGY. 

Do not seal a letter that is to be given to a friend for 
delivery. 

Never presume upon friendship enough to intrude upon 
privacy. Privacy is the need of every human soul for a 
portion each day; it is the time for growth from within 
— the time for the care and cultivation of self. 

Invitations should be answered at the earliest conven- 
ience. Calls should be returned within a fortnight. 

When offered a seat in a public conveyance, accept or 
not, as you like, but thank the kindly spirit that prompted 
the offer. 

When intrusted with a commission, do not fail to per- 
form it. It is rude not to remember. 

Punctuality is an admirable trait in man or woman, 
and should be cultivated by all who strive to please. 

Kipling speaks of " the intense selfishness of the lower 
classes." This is true of the unenlightened, which are " the 
lower " classes. Culture unfolds and strengthens the spirit 
of brotherly kindness. Many are born unselfish, but more 
develop it through study and introspection — through a 
constant desire for truth and right. Such will always be 
gentle folks. Civilization does not present this kind, as 
the rule; they are the exceptions. There is much of osten- 
tation, vulgarity, brutality, and materialism to-day. In 
1850, Thomas Carlyle said, " There must be a new world, 
if there is to be any world at all." In 1870, Matthew 
Arnold said our advance is hindered because " we are try- 
ing to live on, with a social organization of which the day 
is over." And as a remedy, the same writer proposed cul- 



SOCIAL LIFE. 671 

ture which " seeks to do away with classes, to make the 
best that has been thought and known in the world current 
everywhere, and to make all men live in an atmosphere of 
sweetness and light." 

When this becomes true, of course there will be no 
society but good, or polite, society. 

People with the advantages of culture should see to 
it that their lives are strong, true, useful, and sincere, so 
that those less favored will desire what is good, rather 
than what will make outside display. 

The keynote of an ideal society is sounded by George 
Eliot in the following language : " As in music, where all 
obey and concur to one end, so that each has the joy of 
contributing to a whole whereby he is ravished and lifted 
up into the courts of heaven, so will it be in that time . . . 
when our daily prayers will be fulfilled, and one law shall 
be written on all hearts, and be the very structure of all 
thought, and be the principle of all action." 

All may not be major notes or minor notes ; in the state 
of altruism, general harmony will be the object sought, 
rather than the distinction of individual tones. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

LONGEVITY. 

The desirability of a prolonged life is to be measured 
by the degree of health enjoyed, and by the ability to keep 
in cheerful touch with the living, pulsing, moving world of 
the present. A certain kind of enjoyment is sometimes pos- 
sessed when the mind lives in the past, but the truly pleasant 
and lovable " green old age " is that wherein the mind keeps 
abreast of the times. 

" Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth,' ' is 
a text peculiarly suitable for a sermon on long life. The 
laws of being must be understood and practiced during the 
formation period. Each day for the individual is an out- 
growth of those preceding, and itself assists in the founda- 
tion of those that follow. Habits of mind and body act 
and react upon man's dual nature, making him what he is ; 
hence it becomes necessary to know one's self in his relation 
to the unchangeable laws of nature, in order to conserve 
and upbuild such strength as may be his through heredity 
and growth. 

Calculation as to the age of other vertebrate animals, 
such as the dog, horse, ox, camel, elephant, lion, etc., has 
shown that under favorable conditions they live to a period 
of ten times their youth. This is not true of humankind, 
owing to the artificialities of life. The period of youth in 
672 



LONGEVITY. 673 

the human species is about twenty years, but those who have 
ever attained to the age of ten times their youth belong to 
the dim and misty past. 

Dr. J. H. Kellogg says : " Civilized man has wandered 
so far from God, and has to such a degree extinguished 
his natural instincts that he no longer craves that which 
is absolutely pure and life-giving. In close, unventilated 
rooms he breathes dead air, and dies of pneumonia, pul- 
monary tuberculosis, or chronic asphyxia, and gives the 
blame to Providence or germs. He rejects pure water, and 
drinks instead poison-laden beverages which persuade him 
that he is warm when he is cold, that he is strong when 
he is weak, that he is rested when he is weary, that he is 
well when he is ill, that he is rich when he is poorer than 
ever, that he is reviving when he is dying. This perverted 
man likewise turns away from simple foods designed for 
his sustenance, in which unadulterated life is stored in the 
most concentrated, available form, and compels himself, by 
persistent efforts, to accept instead stuffs which carry with 
them unlimited disease, death, and damnation." 

Doctor Kellogg himself is, however, an example of 
enlightened return to the simple laws of health, being a 
leader of the advance guard that seeks to make clear and 
desirable wholesome life through adherence to natural laws. 

As to the essentials to such life, Doctor Kellogg further 
says, " Pure food, pure water, pure air, are the means by 
which the vital forces are perpetually kindled and main- 
tained. Food constitutes the life fuel; oxygen breaks the 

bonds which hold life in latent form, and makes it living, 
43 



674 FEMINOLOGY. 

active energy; water transfers the life fuel from cell to 
cell and carries away the ashes which might clog the vital 
forces. Hence to eat well, to drink well, to breathe well, 
are the three conditions most essential to long and vigorous 
life. Other conditions are important, but these are abso- 
lutely essential." 

Apropos to the question of food and drink, the follow- 
ing paragraph from an article published some years ago 
by the North American Review bears directly on their rela- 
tion to long life : — 

" Very few people, it is safe to say, desire old age. 
We cannot defy death. But we may by searching, find 
certain secrets of nature and apply them to the renewal 
of the organs whose decay is constantly going on in the 
body. Anatomical experiment and investigation show that 
the chief characteristics of old age are deposits of earthy 
matter of a gelatinous and fibrinous character in the human 
system. Carbonate and phosphate of lime mixed with other 
salts of a calcareous nature, have been found to furnish the 
greater part of these earthy deposits. Of course, these 
earthy deposits, which affect all the physical organs, natu- 
rally interfere with their functions. Partial ossification 
of the heart produces the imperfect circulation of the blood, 
which affects the aged. When the arteries are clogged 
with calcareous matter, there is interference with the cir- 
culation, upon which nutrition depends. Without nutri- 
tion, there is no repair of the body. 

" Paradoxical as it may sound, certain foods which 
we put into our mouths to preserve our lives, help, at the 



LONGEVITY. 675 

same time, to hurry us to the inevitable gate of the cemetery. 
A diet made up of fruit principally is best for people 
advancing in years, for the reason that being deficient in 
nitrogen, the ossific deposits so much dreaded are more 
likely to be suspended. Moderate eaters have in all cases 
a much better chance of long life, than those addicted to 
excesses at the table. Mr. De Lacy Evans, who made care- 
ful researches in these regions of science, comes to the 
conclusion that fruits, fish, poultry, young mutton, and 
veal contain less of earthy salts than other articles of food, 
and are therefore best for people. Beef and old mutton 
are usually overcharged with salts, and should be avoided. 
If one desires to prolong life, therefore, it seems that mod- 
erate eating, and a diet containing a minimum amount of 
earthy particles is most suitable to retard old age, by pre- 
serving the system from blockage. 

" The powerful solvent properties of distilled water are 
well known. As carbonate of lime exists in nearly all 
drinking water, the careful distillation eliminates this harm- 
ful element. As a beverage, distilled water is rapidly 
absorbed into the blood ; it keeps soluble those salts already 
in the blood, and facilitates their excretion, thus preventing 
their undue deposit. The daily use of distilled water is, 
after middle life, one of the most important means of pre- 
venting secretion and the derangement of health. Hence, 
to sum up, the most rational modes of keeping physical 
decay or deterioration at bay, and thus retarding the 
approach of old age, are, (1) avoiding all foods rich in 
earth salts; (2) using much fruit, especially juicy, uncooked 



676 FEMINOLOGY. 

apples; (3) and by taking daily two or three tumbler fuls 
of distilled water" 

Prof. Wm. Byrd Powell, who in his time made a study 
of his kind, gave certain measurements of the brain for 
determining the vital tenacity of an individual. Those 
whose heads are broad at the base and set sturdily on the 
shoulders, are naturally long-lived, according to Professor 
Powell. They may kill themselves by a high-pressure life 
of labor or dissipation, or both, which brings on disease, 
but they are, by nature, endowed for long life. When 
brought to the brink of the grave by painful illness or acci- 
dent, these are the persons whose passing is a hard strug- 
gle. They die " before their time." 

On the other hand, when the change, called death, is 
made without pain or struggle, it indicates that the oil in 
their lamp of life has been consumed. This should be the 
death of old age, though inherited weaknesses often make 
it a termination to young life. 

There are not many who, in the buoyancy of youthful 
enjoyment, can realize the imperative need of moderation 
in all innocent joys. Youth likes to be thrilled. But that 
is not against youth, unless it leads them to excesses, or 
to hurtful artificial habits, as narcotics and alcohol. The 
point to be observed is to guard against exhausting the 
power to feel, against becoming sated, against partaking 
so deeply of life's pleasures that the sweet turns to bitter. 
Pleasures exist during mature years, and during old age, 
just the same as in youth, but many have so blunted their 
power of feeling, for them it is the same as if the world 



LONGEVITY. 677 

were joyless. These are they who long for the " good 
old times ; " who do not realize they were once masters 
of the cause from whose effects they now complain. " As 
ye sow, so also shall ye reap," is a statement of natural 
law which few, even among believers of the Word, seem 
to recognize as pregnant truth. And " with what measure 
ye mete, it shall be measured to you again," as a meta- 
physical fact, is seldom perceived beyond the sound of the 
words. Nature, however, is regardless of whether or not 
a sinner knows her laws, for the ignorant suffer the full 
measure of their transgression, as well as the conscious 
violator. They sometimes absolve themselves mentally by 
calling their sufferings " visitations of Providence," which 
is literally true as being effects following certain causes 
within the power of the individual to prevent. A person 
who sins in the abstract sense, is looked down upon as 
having done something he could and should have avoided. 
Perhaps in the onward, upward trend of progress, ills of 
body and of soul will be catalogued together as being 
equally preventable. 

It would be well for most young people to notice the 
character of " Felix Holt," as delineated by George Eliot. 
He is made to say, " I was converted by six-weeks' de- 
bauchery. If I had not seen I was making a hog of myself 
very fast, and that pig-wash — even if I could have plenty 
of it — was a poor sort of thing, I should never have looked 
life fairly in the face to see what was to be done with it. 
I laughed out loud at last, to think of a poor devil like 
me, with my stockings out at the heel, wanting to turn my 



678 FEMINOLOGY. 

life into easy pleasure. Then I began to see what else 
it might be turned into. This world is not a very fine 
place for a good many of the people in it. But I've made 
up my mind it shan't be the worse for me" 

The last two sentences give a cue to the setting forth 
of individual effort. If the world is not made noticeably 
better by one life, at least it need not be made worse; and 
the one life profits through its own virtues. But, as the 
gifted Phillips Brooks said, " No man or woman of the 
humblest sort can really be strong, gentle, pure, and good, 
without the world being the better for it, without some- 
body being helped and comforted by the very existence 
of that goodness.' , 

Perhaps there are not many who would need " Felix 
Holt's six- weeks' debauchery " to awaken them to a reali- 
zation of life's potentialities. Some have no desire to do 
the wrong thing, but go on in a happy-go-lucky way, 
regardless of the business of the future. This aimlessness 
is harmful because it does not develop mental strength. 
Early in life, that special niche in the affairs of men which 
will best afford a play of one's powers, should be sought. 
When found, it brings conditions in which the forces of 
good can operate. It gives one a " purpose in life," and 
is his part of the great economy of the social world. The 
sage Ruskin says the doing whatever work is ours hon- 
orably and perfectly, invariably brings happiness, " as 
much as is possible to the nature of man. In all other 
paths by which happiness is pursued, there is disappoint- 
ment and destruction." 



LONGEVITY. 679 

It is never too early to learn the importance of con- 
trolling thought. Youth is not so light-hearted and light- 
headed as not to give heed to a truth oft repeated. The 
past has not given serious attention to the unseen force 
of thought. All good thought is of the constructive order, 
all wrong thought is of the destructive order; this is the 
law. Let one learn to exclude wrong thought, and he is 
preserved from wrong action. For " as a man thinketh, 
so is he." 

Evil thoughts do not always make themselves manifest 
in evil deeds, but there could be no evil deeds, were such 
thoughts kept from one's mind. All phases of wrong 
thought — the depressed, the anxious, the discordant, or 
the idle, purposeless thought — are lowering to the mental 
strength. So he or she who wishes to be preserved against 
the ravages of time, to be a comfort to self and friends, 
will do that which is best of all, when good thought is 
cultivated with all that is comprehended under that head. 

There is a principle which will aid in forming the habit 
of thinking of only good and pleasant things. It is the 
art of forgetting the unfavorable ingredients of everyday 
life. As often as unpleasant thoughts occur, it should be 
a suggestion to the helmsman Will to steer into pleasant 
channels. A vicious thought should be a danger signal. 
Dr. Dio Lewis made use -of this principle in assisting young 
men to overcome licentiousness, which is just one phase of 
wrong thought. It can be as successfully applied in exclud- 
ing all wrong thought as one branch of it. Always remem- 
ber that good forces upbuild, while evil forces disintegrate 



680 FEMINOLOGY. 

and destroy; and in thinking or doing one or the other, 
man is never alone in the effects. We bear a definite rela- 
tion, each to all others of our kind. 

Of the phases of good that are of specific benefit against 
advancing years, might be named cheerfulness and the cul- 
tivation of memory. Cheerfulness may be easy when the 
tide of life is all favorable, but as " Mark Tapley " says, 
" There's no credit in that." Habitual cheerfulness is an 
antidote to many ills. A laugh is of immense physiological 
value, infusing a healthful thrill throughout the system. 

" It is not true that dyspepsia is the cause of irritability," 
says Professor Shaftesbury 7 ; " but it is true that irritability 
is the cause of dyspepsia. The crime of cynicism is the 
father of much ugliness of face and heart." 

The " saving grace of mirth," the wholesome one of 
cheerfulness, and the leaven of love, create an individual 
for whom society is grateful. 

" Laugh, and the world laughs with you." 

And that isn't anything against the world, either. It sim- 
ply shows the general tendency to turn to the desirable. 
That individuals cherish grief and care and worry and all 
those depressing states of mind is against the person, and 
is not against general society when it is not sympathetic. 
Owen Meredith very prettily stated a solid truth when 
he said — 

" There's many a trouble would burst like a bubble, 
And into the waters of Lethe depart, 
Did we not rehearse it and tenderly nurse it, 
And give it a permanent place in our heart." 



LONGEVITY. 68 1 

Some one (it sounds like Fowler) said, " There are 
many people who keep pet griefs, as certain other people 
keep lapdogs, that they carry about with them wherever they 
go. These are the people who feel the best when they feel 
the worst, and are never so happy as when they are utterly 
miserable. Like the maiden ' who milked the cow with 
a crumpled horn/ they are always ' all forlorn ; ' and they 
keep a figurative dog to be ' tossed,' and a cat to be 'worried,' 
and a rat to be ' killed/ upon every possible occasion. They 
turn down the leaf at ' Oh that my head were waters, 
and mine eyes a fountain of tears,' as if griefs were bul- 
rushes, and flourished best in wet places." 

After the first reaction from loss of friends or disaster, 
the innate forces of character should be marshaled again, 
to take up the work of life. When this is not done, it indi- 
cates one of two things; either there are weak personal 
characteristics, or the controlling power is weak. 

The ailing, complaining, grief-cherishing person can 
never gain near the proportion of good will that one who 
cultivates cheerfulness does, and because he does not know 
this fact, he feels aggrieved that sympathetic warmness 
of feeling is not forthcoming. 

Children often acquire the habit of giving way to gusts 
of emotion through the examples of their elders. Tired 
mothers who have overtaxed their powers of endurance 
yield to irritability, and the small imitator remembers the 
example. Emotions allowed full sway send children of the 
household out into the world indifferent to everything 
except having their own way. 



682 FEMINOLOGY. 

Tempests of anger, not checked, materially injure the 
health of child or adult. The rebellious moods of little 
ones, often aggravated by the stupidity of parents deter- 
mined to enforce authority in the wrong way, have been 
known to so exhaust the nervous strength that it was im- 
possible to eat or sleep for a time. 

When a child is known to be emotional, it is positively 
sinful to allow the temperament to be excited, or not to 
divert the attention when the feelings have been aroused. 
The unfortunate one who has been allowed full play of 
the tempests of emotion, when reaching maturity, finds 
herself unable to win or retain the love so often craved. 
And the fault is away back at the " forks of the road," 
where self-control might have been possible. Sometimes 
such people live long, " 'tis true, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis, 
'tis true," for their lives do not bless. 

A newspaper paragraph bearing on the point of good- 
ness and long life, speaks the following : — 

A bright woman when applauded for her goodness, 
begged her friends to let the matter drop. " For," she 
said, " though I do try to do good for some really high 
motives, yet I have a reason for trying, which I am afraid, 
is a low one." 

" What do you mean ? " said a laughing friend. 

" I mean that I once heard, many years ago, that beauty 
after fifty depends not on features, but on character. Like 
all women, I desired to be beautiful; and, as Providence 
had denied me the features necessary to secure that result, 
in early life, I determined to make the attempt to be beau- 



LONGEVITY. 683 

tiful at fifty. I am eighty-five now, and though I see no 
signs of this Indian-summer loveliness, I still try to be 
good." 

But her beauty had developed with the years. Nobility 
of character will tell upon the outward aspect. The car- 
riage of the figure, the pose of the head, the expression of 
the face — these come to reveal more and more of the inner 
life, with the lapse of time. 

The medical fraternity, which in the past has dealt 
exclusively with the material body, is now recognizing some 
of the invisible forces as factors in disease. The following 
regarding the effects of worry, is taken from the Phar- 
maceutical Products: — 

" Modern science has brought to light nothing more 
curiously interesting than the fact that worry will kill. 
More remarkable still, it has been able to determine from 
recent discoveries just how worry does kill. It is believed 
by many scientists who have followed more carefully the 
growth of the science of brain diseases, that scores of 
deaths set down to other causes are due to worry, and 
to worry alone. The theory is a simple one — so simple 
that any one can understand it. Briefly put, it amounts to 
this : — 

" Worry injures beyond repair certain cells of the 
brain, and the brain being the nutritive center of the body, 
the other organs gradually become injured; and when dis- 
ease of these organs, or a combination of them arises, 
death finally ensues. Thus does worry kill. Insidiously. 
like many other diseases, it creeps upon the brain in the 



684 FEMINOLOGY. 

form of a single, constant, never-lost idea; and, as water 
dropping for a period of years will wear a groove in a stone, 
so does worry gradually, imperceptibly, but no less surely, 
destroy the brain cells that lead all the rest — that are, so to 
speak, the commanding officers of mental power, health, and 
motion.'' 

On the other hand, the forces of good — calmness, self- 
possession, cheerfulness — strengthen body and brain. 
When this is generally recognized, life in the body will 
be prolonged beyond the average period of animal life. 

But a large proportion of humanity is indifferent to 
the subject of health and long life. Some there are who 
toil so many long hours of the day, from sheer exhaus- 
tion of body they cannot give time to thought on any 
subject. Anxiety for daily bread, clothing, and shelter 
frays out the forces of life. A little girl, who from the 
age of three had whipped seams in custom-made trousers, 
wondered how any one could want to live as long as forty 
years. 

Statistics as to the average length of life in prosperity 
and poverty, according to Kalb, are : — 

Of i.ooo prosperous persons born, at 5 years of age 
57 died. 

Of 1,000 poor persons born, at 5 years of age 345 died. 

Of 1.000 prosperous persons born, at 50 years of age 
443 died. 

Of 1,000 poor persons born, at 5 years of age 717 died. 

Of 1,000 prosperous persons born, at 70 years of age 
765 died. 




GRANDMA S HELPER. 



LONGEVITY. 685 

Of 1,000 poor persons born, at 70 years of age 968 died. 

By this it is to be seen that the wearing effects of the 
struggle for self-preservation on the physical plane, makes 
mortality very much greater than where the environment 
is one of comparative ease. 

Among other circumstances favoring long life, climate 
is prominent, the temperate being more conducive to this 
end than the torrid or frigid. And the physique of 
an individual is noted by statisticians as important; neither 
the very large nor the very small are usually long-lived. 
The very large are often grown disproportionately, which 
is not indicative of strength; and the very small are unde- 
veloped. Very tall people are prone to stoop shoulders, 
which cuts off the breathing capacity, and hence shortens 
life. Corpulency is unfavorable to longevity. 

It was Huf eland's belief that but for extraneous causes, 
man might attain* to the age of one hundred fifty or more. 
Of the person he delineates as one who might be expected 
to enjoy long life, he says, " There is harmony in all his 
parts. His senses are good, but not too delicate; his pulse 
is slow and regular; his stomach is excellent; his appetite 
good and digestion easy. The joys of the table are not 
to him of importance. They tune his mind to serenity, 
and his soul partakes in the pleasure they communicate. 
He eats slowly, and has not too much thirst; the latter 
being always a sign of rapid self-consumption. He is 
serene, active, susceptible of joy, love, and hope, but insen- 
sible to the impressions of hatred, anger, and avarice. His 
passions never become violent. He is an optimist, a friend 



686 FEMINOLOGY. 

to nature and domestic felicity. He has no thirst after 
riches and honor." 

Perhaps the most comprehensive sentence showing how 
a long life may be had and enjoyed, is that of the apostle 
which says, " Be temperate in all things," and which has 
been read for several centuries. 

In the cultivation of memory, we are broadened and 
strengthened by absorbing new knowledge daily. This 
keeps one progressive; is the savior and preserver against 
becoming a " back number," whose place is begrudged him. 
The experiences of a long life, with a constant accumu- 
lation of knowledge, makes old age a period of mellow, 
refined happiness, incomparably beyond that of childhood. 
Progressive minds do not age, even though Time's frost 
has been left on head and brow. The young old person 
is a revelation of the possibilities of joys in life, a delight 
to all privileged to be his or her friend. Such was Dr. 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose passing beyond the veil 
called forth many words of affection all over the country. 
One editor wrote, " The frosts of more than eighty win- 
ters had whitened his hair, but could not chill his heart. 
The winds of fourscore summers had bit his cheek, but 
could not dry the perennial springs of love for humanity, 
that had their source in his soul. His heart beat for his 
fellow-man." 

Of his daily life, the following bit of verse from his 
pen breathes forth his aspirations: — 

" Build thee more stately mansions, oh my soul, 
As the swift seasons roll ! 



LONGEVITY. 687 

Leave thy low-vaulted past! 

Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 

Till thou at length are free, 

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea." 

" Leave thy low-vaulted past " is the keynote of prog- 
ress. For life is never at a standstill; they who are too 
indolent to aspire for that culture which is beyond, must 
drift backward toward the " original species." 

Mr. Lincoln is another character illustrative of devel- 
opment from within. One of his biographers brings out 
the point of two seemingly contradictory elements of Mr. 
Lincoln, self-reliance and humility. But the humility 
impelled him to fortify himself as thoroughly as possible 
against every crisis; and the consciousness of being forti- 
fied gave him the needful self-confidence. So he progressed 
from rail-splitting to the presidency, an example for all 
American youth. 

Some of the recorded cases of longevity may be inter- 
esting to note here. 

The case of Thomas Parr, of Shropshire, England, 
who died at the age of 150 years and 9 months, has been 
repeatedly mentioned. His body was dissected by the cele- 
brated Harvey, who found no symptoms of decay; and the 
theory was that his death at that age was due to the sup- 
posed kindness of the Earl of Arundel, who took Parr 
to the Court of Charles the First, where he ate and drank 
of rich viands, perhaps for the first time in his life. 

Henry Jenkins, of Yorkshire, England, is said to have 
died at the age of 169. 



688 FEMINOLOGY. 

John Rovin, of Temesvar, Hungary, lived to be 172 
years of age, and his wife to be 164. 

Peter Zartin, of the same place, lived to be 185. 

Jonathan McGee, of Michigan, born in 1788, when 
last heard from (1899), was yet living. His long life 
and physical preservation is attributed to simple living and 
abstinence from bad habits, such as the tobacco and alcohol 
habits. 

Fontenelle, the French author, did not quite reach the 
one-hundred-year mark, but his buoyancy of spirit existed 
throughout his life. 

Blumenbach died at the age of 88. 

Prince Von Bismarck was born in 181 5, and died re- 
cently, past the 80-year mark. 

Mr. Gladstone, so long prime minister of England, was 
born in 1809, and died recently. He was temperate in all 
things, and retained his brilliant mental vigor till the last. 

Mrs. Isabel Turner, of Minnesota, died in 1889, at 
the age of 94 years. 

Mrs. Mary Kinkaid, of Ohio, died in 1897, at the age 
of 94 years. 

Mrs. Priscilla Johnson, of Iowa, died in 1898, at the 
age of 92 years. 

At this period of the world, these are unusually long 
lives. 

Of our beloved American poets, Whittier reached the 
age of 85, Bryant the age of 84, and Longfellow the age 

of 75- 

The case of a lady in New York City was recorded in 



LONGEVITY. 



689 



1898 by the newspapers. She had then reached the age 
of 99 years, and possessed all the five physical senses. She 
said, " It may be that lack of worry has done as much as 
anything to keep me whole. I have never worried in my 
life. I was born with a strong constitution. I have always 
risen early and retired early at night. My appetite has 
always been good, and I have satisfied it with plain food. 
So far as possible, I have kept an even temper and a clear 
conscience.' ' 

Longfellow, with his beautiful and clear comprehen- 
sions of life, truly said, — 

" Age is opportunity no less 
Than youth itself, though in another dress; 
And as the evening twilight fades away, 
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day/' 

After all is said that may be of the desirability of long 
life, there yet remains the certainty that life in the body 
will terminate. And this fact is met with the varying phi- 
losophy of different individuals. 

Ingersoll said, " We do not know, we cannot say 
whether death is a wall or a door; the beginning or the 
end of a day ; the spreading of pinions to soar, or the fold- 
ing forever of wings; the rise or the set of a sun; or an 
endless life that brings rapture and love to every one/' 

Walt. Whitman said, — 

" The child who enters life comes not with knowledge or intent; 
So those who enter death must go as little children sent. 
Nothing is known. But I believe that God is overhead, 
And as life is to the living so death is to the dead." 
44 



690 FEMINOLOGY. 

Thackeray said, "I go — to what I don't know — 
but to God's next world. One paces up and down the shore 
yet awhile, and looks toward the unknown ocean, and thinks 
of the traveler whose boat sailed yesterday. Those we love 
can but walk down to the pier with us — the voyage we 
must make alone." 

Lowell wrote, — 

"Life is the jailor, Death the angel sent 
To draw the unwilling bolts and set us free. 
He flings not open the ivory gate of Rest — 
Only the fallen spirit knocks at that — 
But benigner regions beckon us, 
To destinies of more rewarded toil." 

Whittier's trustful soul sang, — 

" I know not where Thy mansions 
Lift their fronded palms in air. 
I only know I cannot drift 
Beyond thy love and care." 

Dr. Holmes, the philosopher, thus describes the prepa- 
ration for the change : — 

" Almost always there is a preparation made by nature 
for unearthing a soul, just as on a smaller scale there is 
for the removal of a milk tooth. The roots which hold 
human life to earth are absorbed before it is lifted from 
its place. Some of the dying are weary and want rest, the 
idea of which is almost inseparable in the universal mind 
from death. Some are in pain, and want to be rid of it, 
even though the anodyne be dropped, as in the legend 
from the sword of the Death Angel. Some are stupid, 



LONGEVITY. 691 

mercifully narcotized that they may go to sleep without 
long tossing about. And some are strong in faith and 
hope, so that as they draw near the next world, they fain 
would hurry toward it, as a caravan moves faster over 
the sands, when the foremost traveler sends word along 
the file that water is in sight. Though each little party 
that follows in a foot-track of its own will have it that 
the water to which others think they are hastening is a 
mirage, not the less has it been true in all ages, and for 
human beings of every creed which recognized a future, 
that those who have fallen, worn out by their march through 
the Desert, have dreamed, at least, of a River of Life, and 
thought they heard its murmur as they lay dying." 
And Longfellow said, — 

" There is no death ! What seems so is transition. 
This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life Elysian, 
Whose portal we call death." 

One of the minor poets in the same strain continues,— 

" There is no death ! the stars go down 
To rise upon some other shore, 
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 
They shine forevermore. 

There is no death ! the forest leaves 

Convert to life the viewless air; 
The rocks disorganize to feed 

The hungry moss they b^ar. 

There is no death ! the dust we tread 
Shall change beneath the summer showers, 

To golden grain, or mellow fruit, 
Or rainbow-tinted flowers." 






692 FEMINOLOGY. 

Whether we believe we live again only in our posterity; 
whether we may think the earth is the breeding spot of 
the universe which is peopled by those who have died; 
whether a long life is desirable to perfect a being, like the 
ripening of fruit, or an apprenticeship for a higher life, 
we may be sure that the here and now is the only place 
and opportunity to do what we have to do. 



INDEX. 



Abortion, 83. 

temptations to produce, 84. 
Abortion; feticide, 221. 
Abrasions, 551. 
Abscess of ear, 325. 
Accidents, 541. 

abrasion, 551. 

apoplexy, 547. 

bites of serpents, 549. 

broken bones or fractures, 555. 

bruises, 550. 

burns and scalds, 542. 

clothing on fire, 542. 

cramp, 548. 

cuts, 551. 

damp or chill, 556. 

drowning, 544. 

ear, foreign bodies in, 560. 

eye, foreign bodies in, 561. 

fainting, 547. 

fire, 541. 

frozen, to restore, 546. 

gases, 546. 

mad-dog bites, 549. 

nose, foreign bodies in, 560. 

nosebleed, 553. 

poisoning, 557. 

sprains, 554. 

stings of insects, 548. 

sunstroke, 547. 

suspended animation, 544. 

throat, foreign bodies in, 558. 

to escape from a burning 
building, 541. 
Age at which to marry, 30. 
Air, to purify, 50. 

of sick-room, 521. 

to fumigate, 529. 
Alopecia, 369. 
Amative desires, 56. 

right uses of, 57. 

fulfillment of the law, 59. 
Amativeness, 59. 

exercise of, 61, 62. 

inordinate indulgence of, 66. 

prostitution, 63. 



Amenorrhea, 430. 

treatment, 432. 
Anemia, diet in, 512. 
Anger, effects of, 643. 
Anteversion of uterus, 450. 
Anteversion treatment, 454. 
Aphtha, or thrush, 330. 
Apoplexy, 547. 
Arrowroot, 515. 

Backache, 417. 
Baldness, to overcome, 582. 
Bald spots, 369. 
Barley-water, 515. 
Bath, the, 167, 568. 

for babe, 204, 269. 

hot air, 171. 

internal, 570. 

sitz bath, 169. 

stomach, 570. 

Turkish, 170. 

vapor, 171. 
Beauty, esthetic, 647. 

intellectual, 652. 

mental graces, 647. 

personal, 654. (See care of 
the person, p. 564.) 

pleasing to the moral sense, 
640. 
Bed, care of, 46. 

coverings, 45, 46. 

mattress, 45. 

rooms, furnishing, 45. 

use of single, 45, 46. 

springs, 45. 
Bedroom, ventilation of, 46-48, 633. 
Beet poultice, 539. 
Beverages, 515. 
Bites, mad-dog, 549. 

serpents, 549. 
Blackheads, 572. 
Body brace, 447. 
Bowel, protrusion of, 213. 
Bowing, the art of, 615. 
Bread poultice, 539. 
Breath, to correct foul. 591. 

693 



694 



INDEX. 



Breathe, how to, 594. 
Breathing, 532. 
Breast, the, 119. 

care of, after weaning, 255. 

description of, 120. 

function of, 119. 

inflammation of, 216. 
Breast support, 163. 
Broken bones, 555. 
Bronchitis, 339. 
Bruises, 550. 
Burns, to dress, 542. 

when slight, 544. 

Cancer, 464. 
Carbohydrates, 495. 
Care of the person, 564. 

breath, 591. 

complexion, 571. 

ears, 588. 

eyes, 584- 

feet, 589. 

hair, 579. 

hands, 577. 

nails, 578. 

skin, 566. 

teeth, 587. 
Carrot poultice, 539. 
Catamenia, or monthly flow, 420. 
Catarrhal inflammation of throat, 

342. 
Cauliflower excrescence, 465. 
Change of life, 475. 
Cheerfulness, rules to acquire, 644. 

in relation to longevity, 681. 
Chicken-pox, 356. 

stage of incubation, 531. 

duration of, 531. 

when infectious, 531. 
Child, bath of, 204, 269. 

bleeding of the cord, 320. 

" born with a veil," 188. 

breasts of, 321. 

closure of tear duct, 323. 

clothing of newborn, 258. 

conditions influencing charac- 
ter of, 88. 

crying, what it indicates, 253. 

development from conception 
to birth, 146. 

development of, 280. 

diseases transmitted to un- 
born, 100. 



Child, discoloration of skin, 321. 

dressing the navel, 202. 

exercise, 273. 

feeding, 236, 263. 

Froebel's idea of education of, 
302. 

kindergarten, 304. 

nails of, 273. 

occupation desired for, 98. 

parenthood and education of, 
297. 

retention of meconium, 321. 

sex of, 129. 

sleep of, 275. 

sloyd work, 307. 

sore eyes, 321. 

table of average development, 
283. 

talking, 294. 

teeth, care of, 272. 

teething, 288-294. 

to resuscitate newborn, 155, 
200. 

tying the cord, 195. 

ulceration of the navel, 321. 

unfolding intelligence in, 285. 

walking, 294. 
Childbirth, to make painless, 156. 

bathing, 167. 

convalescence and its draw- 
backs, 208. 

diet, 177. 

deep breathing, 165. 

exercise, 172. 

how acquired by Mrs. Stan- 
ton, 158. 

Huxley's views, 158. 

sleep, 181. 

Turkish bath, the, 170. 

value of sitz-bath, 169. 

why painless in women of sav- 
age nations, 159. 
Child crowing, 347. 
Chill, 556. 
Chlorosis, 423. 

treatment of, 424. 
Choke damp, 546. 
Cholera infantum, 332. 
Circumcision, 127. 
Clitoris, the, 109. 

Colds, disorders arising from, 336. 
Colic, 328. 
Common-sense dress, 649. 



INDEX. 



695 



Compress, cold, 525. 

hot, 525. 
Complexion, care of, 571. 
Conception, 128. 

best time for, 129. 

development from, to birth, 
146. 

preparation for, 129. 

process of, 130, 147. 
Confession of a worrier, 626. 
Confinement, 183. 
Confluent smallpox, 361. 
Constipation, corrective, 121, 141, 

333- 

attending labor, 213. 
Consanguinity in marriage, 33. 
Consumption, diet in, 510. 
Contagion, 530. 
Contagious diseases, 353. 

table of, 530. 
Continence, 75-81. 
Convalescence and its drawbacks, 

208. 
Conversation, art of, 664. 
Convulsions, 326. 
Cornmeal poultice, 540. 
Cramps, 548. 
Croup, 345. 

Crying, what it indicates, 253. 
Cultivated deformities, 414. 
Cuts or lacerations, 551. 
Damp or chill, 556. 
Dandruff, to remove, 580. 
Daughter, the, 398. 
Dentition, 288. 

irritation of gums in, 323. 

red gum rash in, 324. 

second, 294. 
Despondency, destructive to health, 

643. 
Development, normal, of child, 280. 

table of average, 283. 
Diabetes, diet in, 513. 
Diarrhea, 331. 
Diet after weaning, 249. 

at time of menopause, 480. 

disposition of family regulated 
by, 43. 

food principles in, 493. 

for infants at nine months, 
250. 

flavorings in, 500. 

fruits, 499. 



Diet in anemia, 512. 
in bodily labor, 503. 
in childhood, 500. 
in consumption, 510. 
in diabetes, 513. 
in dyspepsia, 513. 
in fevers, 514. 
in gout, 512. 

in health and disease, 491. 
in infancy, 500. 
in jaundice, 513. 
in mental labor, 504. 
in old age, 505. 
in pregnancy, 505. 
in rheumatism, 512.- 
in rickets, 512. 
in scrofula, 511. 
in scurvy, 514. 
in youth, 501. 
meats, preparation of, 498. 
painless childbirth, 177. 
relative proportions needed, 

266. 
table of nutritive values, 497. 
vegetables, preparations of, 

Digestion, process of, 508. 
Diphtheria, 343. 

stage of incubation, 531. 

duration of, 531. 

time infectious, 531. 
Diseases of children, 319. 

affections of the throat, 341. 

affections of the skin, 348. 

constitutional, 363. 

contagious, 353. 

disorders arising from colds, 
336. 

disorders during dentition, 
323- 

disorders from imperfect di- 
gestion, 328. 

disorders of early infancy, 320. 

parasitic, 366. 

urinary disorders, 371. 
Diseases peculiar to woman, 438. 
Disinfectants, 526. 
Dress, esthetic, 649. 

common-sense, 415, 649. 

to be worn during pregnancy, 
161. 
Dropsy of the womb, 448. 

ovarian, 446. 



696 



INDEX. 



Dropsy, treatment of, 447. 
Drowned, to resuscitate, 544. 
Drunken, to restore consciousness, 

546. 
Dysentery, 331. 
Dysmenorrhea, 426. 

congestive, 426. 

croupous, 428. 

inflammatory, 427. 

obstructive, 429. 
Dyspepsia, diet in, 513. 

Ear, foreign bodies in, 560. 
Ears, care of, 588. 
Easy labor, 157. 

bathing, 167. 

clothing to be worn to secure, 
161. 

deep breathing, 165. 

diet, 177. 

exercise, 172. 

sitz-bath, 169. 

sleep, 181. 

Turkish bath, 170. 
Eczema, 348. 
Embryo, 147. 

development of, 147. 
Emergencies and accidents, 541. 

abrasion, 551. 

apoplexy, 547. 

bites of serpents, 549. 

broken bones or fractures, 555. 

bruises, 550. 

burns and scalds, 542. 

clothing on fire, 542. 

cramp, 548. 

cuts, 551. 

damp or chill, 556. 

drowning, 544. 

ear, foreign bodies in, 560. 

eye, foreign bodies in, 561. 

fainting, 547. 

family medicine chest, 563. 

fire, 541. 

frozen, to restore, 546. 

gases, 546. 

mad-dog bites, 549. 

nose, foreign body in, 560. 

nosebleed, 553. 

poisoning, 557. 

sprains, 554. 

stings of insects, 548. 

sunstroke, 547. 



Emergencies and accidents, sus- 
pended animation, 544. 
throat, foreign bodies in, 558. 
to escape from a burning 

building, 541. 
to restore consciousness to the 

drunken, 546. 
to restore consciousness from 
choke damp, 546. 
Enema, nutrient, 516. 
Enuresis, 371. 
Erythema nodosum, 349. 
Etiquette, art of conversation, 664. 
miscellaneous, 669. 
parlor, 662. 

rules of salutation, 663. 
street, 661. 
table, 660. 
Eyebrows, to promote growth of, 

584. 
Eye, foreign bodies in the, 561. 
lashes, to promote growth of, 
S84. 
Eyes, care of, 584. 

inflammation of, 585. 
rules for care of, 585. 
to correct convexity of cornea, 

585. 
when spectacles are to be used, 
085. 
Exercise, 172. 
of child, 273. 

to develop bodily vigor, 596. 
Dr. Kellogg's views of, 608. 

Fainting, to revive, 547. 
Fallopian tubes, description of, 
114. 

inflammation of, 444. 
Favus, 368. 

Feeding, artificial, 244. 
Feet, care of, 589. 

chilblains, 590. 

cold, to overcome, 590. 

corns, 590. 
Female, generative organs of, 108. 
Feticide, 221. 

Fetus, development of, 151. 
Fever, diet in, 514. 
Fevers, eruptive, 356. 

chickenpox, 356. 

stage of incubation, 531. 
duration of, 531. 



INDEX. 



697 



Fevers, chickenpox, when infec- 
tious, 531. 
measles, 356. 

duration of, 531. 
stage of incubation, 531. 
when infectious, 531. 
roseola, 349. 

duration of, 531. 
stage of incubation, 531. 
when infectious, 531. 
scarlet, 357. 

duration of, 531. 
stage of incubation, 531. 
when infectious, 531. 
smallpox, 360. 

duration of, 531. 
stage of incubation, 531. 
when infectious, 531. 
typhoid, 363. 

duration of, 531. 
stage of incubation, 531. 
when infectious, 531. 
typhus, 363. 

duration of, 531. 
stage of incubation, 531. 
when infectious, 531. 
Fever child-bed, 217. 
Fire, to escape from a burning 
building, 541. 
clothing on, 542. 
Flaxseed tea, 516. 
Florentine massage cup, 576. 
Food (see diet). 

deficiency of, 506. 

disposition of family regulated 

by, 43- 
excess, 507. 
fruits, 499. 

in its relation to longevity, 675. 
preparation of meats, 498. 
preparation of vegetables, 498. 
relative proportions needed, 

266. 
Rotch's, prepared for babe, 

245. 
table of nutritive values, 497. 
table of time required for di- 
gestion, 509. 
Foreign bodies in the ear, 560. 
bodies in the eye, 561. 
bodies in the nose, 560. 
bodies in the throat, 558. 
Fractures, 555. 



Freckles, to remove, 575. 
Frozen, to restore, 546. 

Gas, to restore consciousness, 546. 
Generation, absence of organs of, 
432. 

displacement of organs of, 449. 

female organs of, 108. 

male organs of, 121. 

process of, 130, 147. 
Gentleman, the, 567. 
Gestation, ectopic, 154, 155. 
Gout, diet in, 512. 
Graafian vesicle, 118. 

structure of, 147. 
Griping, 329. 

Hair, bald spots, 369. 

care of, 579. 

dandruff, 580. 

to prevent falling of, 582. 
Hands, care of, 577. 
Happiness, rules for, 644. 
Headache, sick, 416. 

from constipation, 416. 

during menstruation, 417. 
Health, 44. 

bath, the, 568. 

deep breathing essential to, 
165, 593. 

during pregnancy, 100. 

face a barometer, 278. 

how to obtain and hold, 594. 

Dr. Kellogg' s views of, 674. 

moods destructive to, 643. 

relaxation necessary to, 621. 

of wife, 53. 

worry in relation to, 684. 
Heart, palpitation, 486. 

effect of emotions on, 642. 
Heat spots, 349. 
Hemorrhage after delivery, 211. 

due to menopause, 483. 
Heredity, 89. 
Herpes Zoster, 351. 
Higher Law, the, 79. 
Hints on nursing the sick, 517. 
Home-building, 37. 

material essentials for, 39. 

patience necessary in, 38. 
Honey scab, 351. 

Hot flashes due to menopause, 482 
Household, care of, 43. 



698 



INDEX. 



Household, cleansing drain pipes, 

50. 

disposal of garbage, 50, 51. 

sinks, 50. 
How to breathe properly, 165. 
" How to Marry," 28. 
Husband, an exacting master, 40. 

as inspirer and helper, 42. 

irresistible passion of, 67. 
Hydatids, 466. 
Hygiene of early life, 256. 
Hymen, in. 
Hysteria, 424, 468, 487. 

Impetigo, 351. 

Impregnation, phenomenon of, 130. 

occurs-where, 147. 
Iceland-moss jelly, 515. 
Indigestion, 335. 
Infant (see child). 
Ingrowing toe-nails, 579. 
Insomnia, 103, 623. 
Intellectual beauty, 653. 
Intercourse, as to time and fre- 
quency, 61. 

during pregnancy, 101. 

loving courtesies, preceding, 
62. 

observance of the Higher Law 
in, 79- 

to beget boys, 128. 

to beget girls, 128. 
Ischia, 105. 
Itch, 366. 

Jaundice, diet in, 513. 
Junket, 251. 

Kidneys, function of, 478. 
Kindergarten, the, 304. 

Labia, the, 108. 

majora, 108. 

minora, 108. 
Labor, afterpains, 198. 

bathing, 167. 

clothing to be worn during 
pregnancy, 161. 

deep breathing, 165. 

diet, 177. 

exercise, 172. 

easy, 157. 

management of, 183. 



Labor, management of mother and 
child, 197. 
sleep, 181. 
special observations for 

mother and attendant, 188. 
symptoms of, 185. 
Turkish bath, 170. 
use of instruments in, 192. 
value of sitz bath, 169. 
Laceration of the cervix, 212. 
of the perineum, 212. 
falling of the womb due to, 
212. 
Law of selection, the, 23. 

of population, 72. 
Lesbian love, 109. 
Leucorrhea corrective, 121. 
cervical, 461. 
vaginal, 461. 
Limitation of offspring, 72. 

obedience to the Higher Law, 

74- 
male continence, 75. 
nature's checks, 73. 
Linseed poultice, 539. 
Liver spots, 574. 
Liver, treatment in torpid, 549. 
Longevity, 673. 

be temperate in all things, 687. 
cheerfulness, 681. 
versus moods, 682. 
climate, 686. 

prosperity and poverty in rela- 
tion to, 685. 
quotation from Longfellow, 
690, 692. 
Ingersoll, 690. 
Holmes, 691. 
recorded case of, 688. 
what Dr. Kellogg says of the 

essentials of, 674. 
and diet, 675. 
worry, effects of, 684. 
Love-making a part of home-mak- 
ing, 37- 

Mad-dog bites, 549. 
Maiden wife, the, 34. 
Male continence, 75. 

organs of generation, 121. 
Mammae, 119. 

function of, 119. 

description of, 120, 



INDEX. 



699 



Marriage, 21. 

chamber, the, 34. 

" How to Marry," 28. 

judicious spending of first 

year of, 53. 
law of selection, 23. 
object of, 21. 
of relatives, 33. 
outgrowing compatibility of, 

28. 
study of phrenology as a guide 

to, 24. 
temperament of candidates of, 

26. 
Marry, age at which to, 30. 

proper time to, 33. 
Marrying a cook, 22. 

as a cure of nervous debility, 

23. 

to please relatives, 22. 

to reform the dissipated, 32. 

to rejuvenate, 22. 
Masturbation, 394, 409. 
Measles, 356. 

stage of incubation, 531. 
Medicine chest, 562. 
Menopause, 475. 
Menorrhagia, 433. 

treatment of, 434. 
Menses, 420. 

danger of exposure during, 
422. 

irregularity, 422. 

irregularity due to menopause, 
481. 

painful, 426. 

(a) congestive, 426. 

(b) inflammatory, 427. 

(c) croupous, 428. 

(d) obstructive, 429. 
profuse, 433. 
suppressed, 431. 

treatment of suppressed, 

432. 
vicarious, 434. 

treatment of vicarious, 
435- 
Menstruation and its disorders, 

420. 
Mental graces, 647. 
Metritis, 444. 
Milk fever, 214. 
Milk, artificial, 244-246. 



Milk, babe's natural food, 235. 

effect of dancing on, 243. 

effect of menstruation on, 240. 

effect of labor on, 243. 

effect of mental states on, 241. 

effect of passion on, 243. 

effect of terror, 242. 

excessive flow of, 215. 

influence of diet, drink, and 
medicine on, 238. 

insufficiency of, 215. 

Rotch's food, 245. 

to dry up, 255. 
Miscarriage, 221. 
Moles or false conceptions, 465. 
Mons veneris, 108. 
Moth patches, 574. 
Mother in relation to child, 235. 
Mother and child, 206. 
Motherhood, enforced, C5-79. 

joys, of, 55- 

preparation for, by parents, 97. 
Mumps, 355. 

stage of incubation, 531. 
Mustard plaster, 525. 

Nails, care of, 578. 

ingrowing, 579. 
Natural body brace, 447. 
Navel, bleeding from the cord, 320. 

dressing the cord, 202. 

ulceration of, 321. 
Nettle-rash, 350. 
Neuralgia, 448. 

due to menopause, 483. 

ovaries, 449. 

uterus, 449. 
Nipples, care of, 214. 

depressed, 214. 
Nosebleed, 553. 

Nose, foreign bodies in the, 560. 
Nursing, 235. 

frequency, 236. 
Nursing the sick, 517. 
Nymphomania, 109, 467. 

Oatmeal gruel, 515. 
Ovaries, anatomy of, 115. 

displacement of, 458. 

dropsy of, 446. 

inflammation of, 445. 

ligaments, 116. 
Ovum, 147. 



yoo 



INDEX. 



Oxygen, 493. 

Pack, hot, 524. 

cold, 524. 
Palpitation of the heart, 486. 
Parenthood, qualifications for, 89. 
Parenthood and education, 297. 
Pelvis, the, 105. 

the false, 106. 

the true, 107. 
Peritoneum, 113. 

laceration of, 212. 
Peritonitis, puerperal, 217. 

causes assigned for, 219. 
Person, care of, 564. 
Physical culture, 592. 

art of sitting, 612. 

bowing, 615. 

exercises to develop bodily 
vigor, 596-608. 

how to breathe, 593. 

how to correct weak lungs, 
596. 

how to increase chest capacity, 

594- 

pleasing to the esthetic fac- 
ulty, 651. 

principles of walking, 611. 

Shaftesbury's laws of grace, 
617. 
Pigeon breast, 341. 
Piles, treatment of, 457. 

bleeding, 483. 
Pimples, cause of, 417. 

treatment of, 418, 573. 
Placenta, 148. 

presenting, 193. 
Pleasure of wife, 53. 
Pneumonia, 340. 
Poisoning, 557. 
Poultices, 525. 

beet, 539. 

bread, 539. 

carrot, 539. 

cornmeal. 540. 

linseed, 539. 

medicated applications, 526. 

mustard, 525. 
Pregnancy, 128. 

abdominal, 154, 155. 

bathing, 167. 

clothing to be worn during, 
161. 



Pregnancy, deep breathing, 165. 
demands of husband during, 

65. 

diet, 177, 505. 

diseases transmitted during, 

100. 
disorders of, 137. 
duration of, 136. 
influence affecting child dur- 
ing, 91. 
insomnia of, 103. 
intercourse during, 101. 
physical vigor, 100. 
signs of, 131. 

at 3 months, 133. 
at 6 months, 135. 
at 9 months, 136. 
sleep, 181. 

value of sitz-bath during, 169. 
Prenatal inheritance, 87. 

beautiful children not born by 

chance, 96. 
mothers' marks, 91. 
to determine occupation of 

child, 98. 
to determine sex, 129. 
to secure the best, 97. 
Prolapsus of bowel, 335. 
of womb, 450. 
rest necessary in, 636. 
Prostitution, 63. 

loathsome diseases as result 
of, 70. 
Proteids, 495. 
Pruritis, 466. 
Psoriasis vulgaris, 351. 
Pulse, 532. 

Quadruplets, 154, 155. 
Quickening, 134. 
Quinsy, 342. 

Rash, 290. 

red gum, 324. 

nettle, 350. 
Rest, 620. 

activity always followed by, 

637. 

best position for complete, 636. 
Retroversion of the uterus, 450. 

treatment, 454. 
Rheumatism, 364. 

diet in, 512. 



INDEX. 



701 



Rickets, diet in, 512. 
Ringworm of scalp, 367. 

crusted or honeycombed, 368. 
Rose rash, 349. 
Roseola, 349. 

stage of incubation, 531. 

Salpingitis, 444. 
Salutation, rules of, 663. 
Scald-head, 368. 
Scalds, to dress, 542. 
Scarlet fever, 357. 

stage of incubation, 531. 
Schultze's method of resuscitation, 

154, 155, 200. 
Scrofula, 364. 

diet in, 511. 
Scurvy, diet in, 514. 
Semen, 125. 
Sex, 58. 

determination of, 128. 

dignity of, 68. 

fulfillment of the law of, 59. 

usefulness of the powers of, 57. 

ways of appropriating powers 
of, 58. 
Sex love, 57. 
Shingles, 351. 
Sitting, art of, 612. 
Sitz bath, 169. 
Skin, purpose of, 478. 

care of, 566. 
Skin affections, 348. 

eruptions due to menopause, 

483. 
Sleep, 181, 623. 

dozing, 639. 

face in, 278. 

what it indicates, 538. 
Sleeping-rooms, 45, 633. 

furnishing of, 45. 

single beds in, 47. 

ventilation of, 46. 
Smallpox, 360. 

stage of incubation, 531. 
Snake bites, 549. 
Social life, 657. 

conversation, art of, 664. 

gentleman, the, 657. 

miscellaneous points, 669. 

parlor etiquette, 662. 

rules of salutation, 663. 

street salutation, 661. 



Social life, table etiquette, 660. 

Son, the, 374. 

Spermatozoa, described, 126. 

Spotted heat, 324. 

Sprains, 554. 

St. Vitus's dance, 425. 

treatment of, 425. 
Stings from insects, 548. 
Stimulating liniments, 526. 
Summer complaint, 332. 
Sunstroke, 547. 

to prevent, 547. 
Surface, the, 535. 
Suspended animation, 544. 

of newborn, 154, 155. 
Symphysis pubis, 105. 
Syphilis, 70. 

Table of average development of 
babe, 283. 
of digestion of ordinary arti- 
cles of food, 508. 
of food suitable between ages 

3 and 10 years, 500. 
of nutritive values of food, 

497- 
of contagious diseases, show- 
ing period of incubation, du- 
ration, and length of time 
patient is infectious, 531. 
Tan, to remove, 575. 
Teeth, care of, 587. 
Teething, 288, 294. 
abscess, 325. 
convulsions, 326. 
diarrhea of, 289. 
irritation of the gums, 323. 
paralysis, 227. 
red gum rash, 324. 
' ulcers, 324. 
Temperament, classification of, 

26. 
Temperature, 533. 

in the sick-room, 521. 
ratio of, 533. 
Tetter, circular dry, 352. 
diffuse dry, 351. 
pustular, 351. 
Throat, affections of, 341. 

catarrhal inflammation of, 342. 
foreign bodies in the, 558. 
Thrush, 330. 
Tinea decalvans, 369. 



JQ2 



INDEX. 



Tobacco habit, the, evil effects of, 

32. 
Tongue, 534. 

Tonsils, enlargement of, 341. 
Tonsilitis, 342. 
Triplets, 154, 155- 
Tumors, 463. 

at time of menopause, 484. 

cancerous, 464. 

cauliflower excrescence, 465. 

fibrous, 463. 

hydatids, 466. 

moles, 465. 

polypous, 464. 
Turkish bath, 170. 
Turpentine stoup, 526. 
Twins, 154, 155. 

in utero, 194. 
Typhoid fever, 363. 

stage of incubation, 531. 
Typhus fever, 363. 

stage of incubation, 531. 

Ulcers of the mouth (thrush), 330. 

uterus, 460. 

vagina, 460. 
Urethra, 109. 
Urine, retention of, 372. 

incontinence of, 371. 
Uterus, in. 

change in, after conception, 
148. 

description of, 112. 

ligaments supporting, 113. 

Vaccination, 362. 
Vagina, anatomy of, no. 

inflammation of, 442. 

ulceration of, 460. 
Variola, 360. 
Ventilation, 48. 

of sick-room, 520. 
Vulva, description of, 109. 

dropsy of, 467. 

itching of, 466. 

Walking, principles of, 611. 
Water, taken into the system, 44, 

493. 
distilled, 672. 
Weaning, 248. 

diet after, 249. 



What the pulse indicates, 532. 

breathing indicates, 532. 

sleep indicates, 538. 

surface indicates, 535. 

temperature indicates, 533. 

tongue indicates, 534. 
Whites (leucorrhea), 461. 
Who should marry, 23. 
Whooping cough, 354. 

stage of incubation, 531. 
Wife, duties of, in care of house- 
hold, 42, 45, 50, 51. 

mission of, 41. 

pleasure necessary to health 
of, 53- 

plundered of health, 66. 

rest during day, 54, 620. 

should control maternal func- 
tions, 65, 69. 
Women, diseases of, 438. 
Womb, anatomy of, in. 

anteversion of, 212. 

anteversion treatment, 454. 

change in, after conception, 
148. 

description of, 112. 

displacements of, 449. 

dropsy of, 448. 

falling of, due to laceration, 
212. 

falling of, due to other causes, 
450. 

flexures, 456. 

inflammation of, 443. 

ligaments supporting, 113. 

prolapsus, 450. 

retroversion, 212. 

retroversion treatment, 454. 

rest necessary in falling of, 
636. 

tonic treatment in uterine dis- 
placement, 459. 

ulceration of, 460. 
Worms, intestinal, 370. 

pin, 371. 

round, 370. 
Worry, 625. 

how to overcome, 629. 

and longevity, 684. 
Wounds, 551. 
Wrinkles or age lines, 575. 

to remove, 576. 



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